Research

What about my work as teacher and scholar? My primary academic interests deal with the humanities and, more broadly, computing in the humanities. I have a joint appointment in the College of Information Sciences and Technology and the department of English. I have served on more than thirty-five doctoral committees. My research has been funded by NEH, the AT&T Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, and the Pew Charitable Trusts.

I have spoken at many major professionals meetings about the role of information technology in teaching and research.

Some of my current research deals with John Evelyn (1620-1706), a founding member of the Royal Society. In 2017 will appear my critical edition of Evelyn’s tragicomedy, Thersander, which was probably written in the early 1660s. The manuscript is now at the British Library along with many of Evelyn’s books and other manuscripts. This archive has led to a major re-appraisal of his contribution to many facets of 17th-century English life and culture, including the Royal Society, gardening, and the arts.

Other areas of research include:

* technologies for teaching and research in the humanities
* strategies for increasing efficiency and reducing costs in instruction
* information technology and its cultural implications
* 17th-century and 18th-century British literature and culture
* history of science, especially the early Royal Society and its major Fellows (Boyle, Hooke, Newton, Evelyn and Priestley)
* history of rhetoric and technology

Books

The Early Essays and Ethics of Robert Boyle, ed. and annotated by John T. Harwood
. (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1991), lxix + 331 pp.

The Rhetorics of Thomas Hobbes and Bernard Lamy, ed. and annotated by John T. Harwood. (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1986), xv + 408 pp.

Critics, Values and Restoration Comedy (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1982), xiv + 177 pp.

Selected Chapters and Articles

“Theologizing the World: A Reflection on the Theology of Sallie McFague,” Anglican Theological Review, 97.1 (Winter 2015), 111-126.

“Elements of Quality in Online Education: Into the Mainstream” (with Gary Miller), ed. John Bourne and Janet C. Moore (Sloan Consortium, 2004), 149-57.

“Bringing Technology to the Learning Enterprise: A Talk with Carole A. Barone of Educause,” About Campus, 7 (September-October, 2002), 21-24.

“Does a College Curriculum Have a Life Cycle?” in Judith V. Boettcher, Mary M. Doyle, and Richard W. Jensen, eds. Technology-Driven Planning: Principles to Practice (Ann Arbor: Society for College and University Planning, 2000), 137-44.

“Writing Science and Science Writing: Robert Boyle and Rhetorical Theory” in Robert Boyle Reconsidered, ed. Michael Hunter (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), 37-56..

“The English 202 Initiative: Computers in Composition” in 101 Success Stories of Information Technology: The Joe Wyatt Challenge, ed. Judith V. Boettcher (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1993), 300-4.

“The Rhetoric of Graphics in Micrographia” in Robert Hooke: New Studies, ed. Simon Schaffer and Michael Hunter (Woodbridge, England: Boydell Press, 1989), 119-47.

“Training and Evaluating Traditional and Non-Traditional Instructors of Composition” (with Betsy Brown), Journal of Basic Writing, 3 (Summer 1984): 63-73.

“Freshman English Ten Years After: Writing in the World,” College Composition and Communication 33 (October 1982): 281-83.

“The Teaching of English, Social Mobility, and the Ideology of Merit,” English Journal (April 1980): 30-37.