Tracey Miller-Tomlinson is in her 21st year at NMSU, where she is an associate professor of English and the Honors College faculty fellow for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity. As Honors faculty fellow, she founded the Center for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity, which she directs in close collaboration with Honors College Dean Phame Camarena and an advisory council representing each college.
Miller-Tomlinson teaches courses on early literature that range from “Beowulf” to the 18th century, with a particular focus on Shakespeare and the Renaissance period, which ranges from the 1400s to the 1700s. Her research focuses on how early modern theater served as a forum for political and cultural debate, and contributed to the rise of the public sphere. She is working on a book on historical plays after Shakespeare and a collection on the future of early modern studies.
“Studying the Renaissance shows how ideas like gender, race and nation have always been contested sites in arts and culture,” Miller-Tomlinson said. “I love introducing students to literature as an opportunity to travel across space and time, and see the world through the eyes of others.”
At the Center for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity, Miller-Tomlinson aims to help students find a path into faculty-mentored research and creative scholarship through individual advising, workshops and campus events like the Research and Creativity Open House and the Undergraduate Research and Creative Arts Symposium, which takes place April 14.
“The excitement of discovery through research draws me to my work with students and faculty across the university at the center,” Miller-Tomlinson said.