Henry S. Turner

Henry S. Turner is the Henry Rutgers Professor of English and Vice President for Academic Initiatives at Rutgers University, where he has been teaching since 2007. He is a leading scholar in Renaissance literature with a focus on Shakespeare, Jonson, and their contemporaries, as well as intellectual history, literary theory, and the intersections of literature with science, law, and political thought. As Vice President for Academic Initiatives, he oversees universitywide faculty hiring, interdisciplinary strategic investment initiatives, the Office of Postdoctoral Advancement, and the Rutgers University Press.

Professor Turner specializes in Early Modern Literature, particularly Shakespeare, Jonson, Dekker, and Middleton, with additional expertise in Nashe, Hakluyt, Bacon, and Hobbes. His research spans theatricality and performance, literary theory (including deconstruction, psychoanalysis, and semiotics), literature and science, literature and intellectual history, and literature and law. He has developed interdisciplinary approaches connecting literature with book and media history, critical race studies, drama studies, and corporation studies. His work demonstrates how early modern literature engages with political economy, scientific thought, spatial theories, and legal frameworks.

Turner's research reveals consistent patterns connecting early modern literature with contemporary theoretical concerns. His publications show how Shakespeare's plays explore cosmological thinking as a way to imagine alternatives to globalization. His work on corporations traces their evolution from pluralistic political institutions to commercial entities, revealing how literature engages with institutional forms. His scholarship consistently bridges historical analysis with philosophical inquiry, showing how early modern texts address questions of personhood, representation, and collective action that remain relevant today.

• Elizabeth Dietz Memorial Award for The Corporate Commonwealth (2017)
• Honorable Mention for Barnard Hewitt Award (2017)
• ACLS Frederick Burkhardt Fellowship (2012-13)
• M. H. Abrams Fellowship, National Humanities Center (2010-11)
• National Endowment of the Humanities Fellowship (2004-5)

Professor Turner has supervised numerous graduate students who have gone on to teach at institutions including the U.S. Air Force Academy, University of Connecticut, University of Maryland, and Yale. His leadership extends to directing the Center for Cultural Analysis and coordinating EMRG @ RU: The Early Modern Research Group at Rutgers. He has received significant research support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, National Humanities Center, and American Council of Learned Societies. As Vice President for Academic Initiatives, he oversees strategic investment initiatives and interdisciplinary research programs, demonstrating his commitment to advancing humanities scholarship within contemporary academic structures.