Elizabeth Heckendorn Cook

Elizabeth Heckendorn Cook is an Associate Professor in the Department of English and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She maintains affiliations with the Early Modern Center, Literature & Environment initiatives, and UCSB Environmental Humanities Center.

She earned her Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Stanford University in 1990 after teaching at Yale University's English Department from 1990-1995. Her educational trajectory established her expertise in transatlantic literary traditions and critical theory.

Professor Cook's research pioneers intersections between early modern British literature and environmental humanities, with signature work on epistolary narratives, theater studies, and nature/culture encounters. Her scholarship consistently examines ethical frameworks in human-nonhuman relationships through Restoration/18th-century texts, revealing historical precedents for contemporary ecocritical discourse. Key methodological approaches include textual analysis of botanical symbolism and cross-cultural circulation of environmental knowledge.

Her publication trajectory shows deepening engagement with environmental ethics, evolving from foundational work on epistolary forms to current investigations of arboreal metaphysics and avian migration patterns. This progression culminated in the co-edited volume 'Invaluable Trees' (2012) and her forthcoming monograph 'Talking Trees', establishing her as a leader in historical ecocriticism.

Professor Cook actively mentors graduate researchers through doctoral colloquia (ENGL 591) and directs the Early Modern British Theater: Access project, securing collaborative research frameworks while guiding emerging scholars in digital humanities methodologies.

She leads the EMBTA project as a cornerstone initiative, developing open-access pedagogical resources including performance archives, critical editions, and interdisciplinary teaching modules that transform early modern theater education globally through the digital repository at embta.english.ucsb.edu.