The Ohio State University College of Arts and Sciences spotlights Hewitt, who earned her B.A. at Amherst and her Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University before joining the OSU faculty. In her research and teaching, she focuses largely on 18th- and 19th-century U.S. literature, but her interests are wide-ranging.
“I came to the study of literature relatively late—adding an English major in my final year of college,” Hewitt says. “As a political science major, I had written a senior thesis on utopianism and realized that I was particularly interested in imaginative writing about governance and socioeconomic policy. I was lucky enough to have had superb teachers in both literature and political science in both college and graduate school who allowed me to couple these interests.”
The Q&A touches upon Hewitt’s 2020 book, Speculative Fictions: Explaining the Economy in the Early United States; the courses she teaches and a study-abroad program she has led; her advice to students; and her favorite books, music, movies and hobbies. “There’s not much that I don’t like talking about,” she says.