Fisher College Faculty
Dr. Danielle Herget
- Associate Professor
- B.A., Performing Arts & English, Colby College
- M.A., English Literature, Boston College
- Ph.D., Drama, Tufts University
- Office: 118 Beacon Street, 5th floor
- Tel. 617-236-5466
- E-mail: dherget@fisher.edu
Strangely enough, I started college as an astrophysics major (and still actually quite enjoy it as a hobby today!). After my freshman year of school, however, I kept thinking back to a particularly favorite class from my senior year of high school, my AP English Literature course. The course was taught by Mr. Bob Corey, a remarkable man who made literary texts come alive - he let us suffer the jungle in The Heart of Darkness, led us to witness Jude's (in Jude the Obscure) devastating relationship, and made us feel the pain within each of Hamlet's soliloquies. I began to realize that this is what I wanted to do - make other people feel alive the same way Mr. Corey's class had done for me. I switched my major to a double BA in English Literature and Performing Arts (I had been a dancer and singer for 15 years, so this second choice felt appropriate). I fully enjoyed both disciplines, but made the decision during senior year to pursue a Masters degree in Literature. While completing my Masters degree work, I noticed that I was taking primarily theater courses, so when the time came to move on to a Doctoral degree, I chose a program in Theatre History. This move felt right - a wonderful combination of my love of literary analysis and an examination of theatrical history and culture. Five years later, I had completed my degree and was ready to share my love for academia with my own students, as Mr. Corey had once shared with me.
I have been teaching college students now for eleven years (not counting my work as a dance instructor during my undergraduate degree). My teaching career has taken me through work as a teaching assistant and graduate researcher during my Masters and Doctoral work, to an adjunct professor position for two years at Emmanuel College, teaching Public Speaking, World Theatre and Advanced Communications, to my current full-time position at Fisher College as Assistant Professor of Humanities.
I have been able to teach a wide variety of courses under the heading of Humanities. These include Shakespeare, Acting, Public Speaking, English I and II, World Theater, 20th Century American Theater, The Performance of Politics, Advanced Writing, and Fantasy Literature. I have thoroughly enjoyed teaching every course, as the broad spectrum of classes has allowed me to bring my equal passions for literature and theatre to all of my students.
In terms of my academic credentials, I received my BA in Performing Arts and English from Colby College (magna cum laude), where I was an Honors students and a member of Phi Beta Kappa. My Masters Degree is in English Literature from Boston College, and my Ph.D. in Theatre History is from Tufts University. My dissertation, The Vaudeville Wars: William Morris, E.F. Albee, the White Rats and the Business of Entertainment, 1890-1932, deals with the monopolies existent in the entertainment industry at the turn of the 20thcentury. I am also a trained dance instructor through the Dance Teacher's Club of Boston, and maintain membership in such academic and professional organizations as the Popular Culture Association of America, the American Society for Theatre Research, the Association for Theatre in Higher Education, the Modern Language Association, and the American Vaudeville Association. I continue to research within my field, presenting at national conferences and writing journal articles.
At Fisher, I have had the opportunity to have hundreds of wonderful students, both in and out of class. I am Advisor to the Drama Club, one of the largest and hardest-working clubs on campus, and have had the pleasure of working with many young actors and actresses over the years, as we have put on such productions as The Crucible, The Heidi Chronicles,Lysistrata, Broadway musical revues, and Shakespeare's Greatest Hits (just to name a few). I was also lucky to work with Fisher's "creative geniuses" as advisor to the Charles Viewer Literary/Arts journal on campus for four years. Primarily, though, it is my continued love of teaching and influencing bright young minds that inspires me each and every day.