Rate My Professor John Ware

Dr. John M. Ware serves as Professor of English at Wofford College, where he joined the faculty in 2006 as Assistant Professor, was promoted to Associate Professor in 2013, and continues in his current role. His academic journey includes a Ph.D. in Restoration and Eighteenth-Century British Literature from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2005, an M.A. in the same field from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington in 1997 with a thesis titled “Two Eighteenth-Century Authors and the Inability to Express,” and a B.A. in Philosophy from the University of Virginia in 1988. Before arriving at Wofford, Ware held a Postdoctoral Fellowship in English at UNC-Chapel Hill from 2005 to 2006 and served as Graduate Teaching Fellow at UNC-Chapel Hill from 1999 to 2004 and at UNC-Wilmington from 1996 to 1998.

Ware's research specialization lies in Restoration and eighteenth-century British literature, encompassing themes such as custom in language and law, picaresque novels and New World slavery, Black English in late eighteenth-century texts, and the drama of Elizabeth Inchbald. He has delivered numerous conference presentations, including “Sounding ‘brute creature[s]’: William Bartram’s Travels (1791)” at the Southeastern American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (SEASECS) in 2015, “Taking Slavery in Stride: Picaresque Novels and New World Slavery” at SEASECS in 2014, and “‘[B]lack determinations’: Elizabeth Inchbald’s Use of Black English” at SEASECS in 2011. His key publication is the chapter “Restoration Drama” in Western Drama through the Ages: A Student Reference Guide, edited by Kimball King (Greenwood Press, 2007, pp. 95-123). Among his honors are the Wofford College Faculty Development Grant in 2016, multiple Faculty Travel Grants from 2010 to 2015, Community of Scholars award in 2009, Tanner Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching at UNC-Chapel Hill in 2004-2005, and Laurence Avery Award for Outstanding Teaching in Literature in 2003-2004. He teaches courses such as English 308: Restoration and Eighteenth-Century British Drama, English 335: The European Picaresque Novel, English 342: Contemporary English Grammar and Usage, and English 343: History of the English Language. Ware also leads distinctive interim travel-study programs, including Baja Sea-Kayaking Adventure and On-Stage in the British Isles, and serves on the Post-graduate Fellowships Committee.