Rate My Professor James Wurtz

James F. Wurtz serves as Associate Professor of English and Chairperson of the Department of English at Indiana State University, a position he has held since joining the institution in 2005. He earned his Ph.D. in Irish Studies with a focus in English from the University of Notre Dame in 2005, following a master’s degree from the same university in 2003, and a bachelor’s degree in English with a minor in Creative Writing from John Carroll University. His doctoral dissertation, titled "A Very Strange Agony: Modernism, Memory and Irish Gothic Fiction," reflects early scholarly interests in Irish literature and Gothic elements. Wurtz has contributed to academic discourse through edited volumes and journal articles on graphic narratives and comics. In 2012, he co-edited "Crossing Boundaries in Graphic Narrative and Sequential Art: Essays on Forms, Series, and Genres" with Jake M. Jakaitis, published by McFarland, and authored the introduction to the collection. That same year, his chapter appeared in the volume. He published "‘Out there in the Asylum’: Physical, Mental, and Structural Space in Grant Morrison and Dave McKean’s Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth" in Amerikastudien / American Studies (volume 56, issue 4). In 2016, he edited the entry on Grant Morrison for Contemporary Literary Criticism, volume 393.

Throughout his career at Indiana State University, Wurtz has engaged in departmental leadership and service, including membership on the Arts Endowment Committee during 2011-2012 and participation in the Master Teacher program alongside colleagues such as Matt Cohen and Rachel Rasley. He delivered the Landini Speaker presentation on Batman’s Dark Night of the Soul and spatial themes in Arkham Asylum in 2010. Additionally, he presented on trauma, melancholy, and "the love of death" in Edward Thomas’s "Rain" at the Midwest Conference on British Studies in 2011 and participated in the International Jonathan Swift Conference in 2007. Wurtz has led faculty development workshops, such as "Utilizing Comics in the Classroom" through the Faculty Center for Teaching Excellence, and served as a dissertation committee member, including for Sarah Feldhake’s 2023 work on adverse narratives. His administrative roles include salary adjustments as Chair and Associate Professor, documented in Board of Trustees minutes from 2022.