Rate My Professor Robert Matz

Robert Matz is a professor of English at George Mason University, specializing in early modern literature, Shakespeare, Renaissance drama, gender, and sexuality. He earned a PhD in English and American Literature from Johns Hopkins University in 1993, an MA from the same institution in 1988, and a BA summa cum laude with distinction in all subjects from Cornell University in 1986. Matz joined George Mason University in 1993 as an assistant professor, advancing to associate professor in 2000 and professor in 2010. He has held prominent administrative positions, including chair of the English Department from 2008 to 2013, senior associate dean for curriculum and technology in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences from 2013 to 2017, interim dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences from 2017 to 2018, campus dean of George Mason University's Incheon, Korea campus from 2019 to 2024, and interim chair of the Department of Modern and Classical Languages from 2024 to 2025.

Matz's research examines Renaissance literary theory, Shakespeare's sonnets, early modern marriage discourses, and poetry's social roles. His books include Defending Literature in Early Modern England: Renaissance Literary Theory in Social Context (Cambridge University Press, 2000), The World of Shakespeare's Sonnets: An Introduction (McFarland, 2008; selected as a 2008 Choice Outstanding Academic Title), and the edition Two Early Modern Marriage Sermons: Henry Smith’s A Preparative to Marriage (1591) and William Whately’s A Bride-Bush (1623) (Routledge, 2016). Key articles feature 'Slander, Renaissance Discourses of Sodomy, and Othello' (ELH, 1999), 'The Scandals of Shakespeare’s Sonnets' (ELH, 2010), 'Theories and Philosophies of Poetry' (Blackwell Companion to Renaissance Poetry, 2018), and contributions to MLA Approaches to Teaching volumes on Romeo and Juliet (2024) and The Taming of the Shrew (2013). He has served on the Executive Committee of the Association of Departments of English (2014-2017) and the Folger Institute (2007-2014), participated in Folger seminars, and received honors including Phi Beta Kappa induction, Johns Hopkins fellowships, and George Mason faculty study leaves. Matz teaches courses on Shakespeare, sixteenth- and seventeenth-century poetry and prose, Spenser, and early modern literature.