Born in nearby Newark, Ohio and raised in the northlands, in Bay City, Michigan, Tim Shutt is the grandson of a Kenyon graduate ('23). He was educated at the Hotchkiss School, at Yale and at the University of Virginia, where he studied as a duPont Fellow and later as a Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellow.
Since 1986, Shutt has taught medieval and Renaissance literature in the Kenyon Department of English and more broadly — from antiquity to the twentieth century and beyond — in the Integrated Program in Humane Studies (IPHS). He has been honored with the Trustee Award for Distinguished Teaching and, on five occasions, with the Senior Cup, presented to the community member who in the judgment of the senior class has contributed most to Kenyon.
Shutt has served as faculty secretary and as chair of the faculty and has long worked with the Kenyon athletic program as an NCAA faculty representative. He offers regular nature talks at the Brown Family Environmental Center and he has spoken on behalf…
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Born in nearby Newark, Ohio and raised in the northlands, in Bay City, Michigan, Tim Shutt is the grandson of a Kenyon graduate ('23). He was educated at the Hotchkiss School, at Yale and at the University of Virginia, where he studied as a duPont Fellow and later as a Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellow.
Since 1986, Shutt has taught medieval and Renaissance literature in the Kenyon Department of English and more broadly — from antiquity to the twentieth century and beyond — in the Integrated Program in Humane Studies (IPHS). He has been honored with the Trustee Award for Distinguished Teaching and, on five occasions, with the Senior Cup, presented to the community member who in the judgment of the senior class has contributed most to Kenyon.
Shutt has served as faculty secretary and as chair of the faculty and has long worked with the Kenyon athletic program as an NCAA faculty representative. He offers regular nature talks at the Brown Family Environmental Center and he has spoken on behalf of the College at alumnae/i events nationwide.
Education
1984 — Doctor of Philosophy from Univ Virginia
1978 — Master of Arts from Univ Virginia
1972 — Bachelor of Arts from Yale University
Courses Recently Taught
ENGL 103
Introduction to Literature and Language
ENGL 103
Each section of these first-year seminars approaches the study of literature through the exploration of a single theme in texts drawn from a variety of literary genres (such as tragedy, comedy, lyric poetry, epic, novel, short story, film and autobiography) and historical periods. Classes are small, offering intensive discussion and close attention to each student's writing. Students in each section are asked to work intensively on composition as part of a rigorous introduction to reading, thinking, speaking and writing about literary texts. During the semester, instructors will assign frequent essays and may also require oral presentations, quizzes, examinations and research projects. This course is not open to juniors and seniors without permission of the department chair. Offered every year.
ENGL 104
Introduction to Literature and Language
ENGL 104
Each section of these first-year seminars approaches the study of literature through the exploration of a single theme in texts drawn from a variety of literary genres (such as tragedy, comedy, lyric poetry, epic, novel, short story, film and autobiography) and historical periods. Classes are small, offering intensive discussion and close attention to each student's writing. Students in each section are asked to work intensively on composition as part of a rigorous introduction to reading, thinking, speaking and writing about literary texts. During the semester, instructors will assign frequent essays and may also require oral presentations, quizzes, examinations and research projects. This course is not open to juniors and seniors without permission of department chair. Offered every year.
IPHS 113Y
Odyssey of the West: The Pursuit of Wisdom and Understanding
IPHS 113Y
In the first semester, we explore the themes of love and justice, purity and power, fidelity to the family and loyalty to the state. Through reading selections from the Hebrew Bible, Homer, Plato, Aristotle, Thucydides, Vergil, Dante and others, we investigate these themes as they find expression in the Judeo-Christian and Greco-Roman traditions and in their enduring European legacies. Students enrolled in this course will be automatically added to IPHS 114Y for the spring semester. This course is open to first-year and sophomore students. Juniors and senior declared concentrators may petition the department to enroll.
IPHS 114Y
Odyssey of the West: The Pursuit of Wisdom and Understanding
IPHS 114Y
In the second semester, we focus on the themes of law and disorder, harmony and entropy, and modernity and its critics. Beginning with Machiavelli, Shakespeare and Hobbes, we investigate the desire to construct a unified vision through reason; then we examine the disruption or refinement of that vision in the works of such authors as Nietzsche, Darwin and Marx. Throughout the year, we explore the connections between the visual arts, literature and philosophy. In tutorial sessions, students concentrate on developing the craft of writing. IPHS 113Y-114Y will fulfill diversification in the Humanities Division. This course is open to first-year and sophomore students. Juniors and senior declared concentrators may petition the department to enroll.
IPHS 323
Dante's Divine Comedy
IPHS 323
In this course, we will study the whole of Dante's "Divine Comedy" in John Sinclair's Oxford translation. This interdisciplinary course does not count toward the completion of any diversification requirement. Prerequisite: sophomore standing.
IPHS 335
Celts and Germans: Works and Cultures of the Premodern European North
IPHS 335
In this course we will examine some of the works and cultures of the premodern European North, both in their interaction with the Mediterranean cultures of antiquity and later times and in their own right. Readings will include: "Beowulf," "The Prose Edda," "Selections from the Poetic Edda," "The Saga of the Volsungs," "Njál's Saga," "Early Irish Myths and Sagas," "The Mabinogion," "The Lais of Marie de France," "Sir Orfeo" and "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight." This interdisciplinary course does not count toward the completion of any diversification requirement. Prerequisite: sophomore standing.
IPHS 375
Athens and Sparta
IPHS 375
In this course we will take a close look at the rise of historiography and at the political, military and social history of fifth-century B.C. Greece, based on a thorough reading of the most prominent existing ancient sources: Herodotus, Thucydides, Plutarch, Xenophon and a few modern sources as well. This interdisciplinary course does not count toward the completion of any diversification requirement. Prerequisite: sophomore standing.
IPHS 484
Senior Research Seminar
IPHS 484
This course, designed as a research and/or studio workshop, allows students to pursue their own interdisciplinary projects. Students are encouraged to take thoughtful, creative risks in developing their ideas and themes. Those engaged in major long-term projects may continue with them during the second semester. This interdisciplinary course does not count toward the completion of any diversification requirement. Prerequisite: junior standing.
Academic & Scholarly Achievements
2014
Moby Dick: America’s Epic. Prince Frederick, MD: Recorded Books, 2014
2014
Giants of the British Novel, Part 1: The Rise of the Novel and the First British Masters. Prince Frederick, MD: Recorded Books, 2014.
2014
Dickens and Twain: Capturing 19th-Century Britain and America. Prince Frederick, MD: Recorded Books, 2014.
2013
Greek Legacy: Understanding the Overwhelming Contributions of the Ancient Greeks. Prince Frederick, MD: Recorded Books, 2013.
2013
Lore of the Stars: The Mythological Narrative in the Night Sky. Prince Frederick, MD: Recorded Books, 2013.
2012
Germans and Celts: The Enduring Heritage of the European Northlands. Prince Frederick, MD: Recorded Books, 2012.
2012
The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer. Prince Frederick, MD: Recorded Books, 2012
2009
A History of Ancient Sparta: Valor, Virtue, and Devotion in the Greek Golden Age. Prince Frederick, MD: Recorded Books, 2009.
2009
Odyssey of the West VI: A Classic Education through the Great Books: The Twentieth Century. Series Editor, Timothy B. Shutt. Prince Frederick, MD: Recorded Books, 2009.
2008
Odyssey of the West V: A Classic Education through the Great Books: Peace Prosperity, and Power, The Nineteenth Century. Series Editor, Timothy B. Shutt. Prince Frederick, MD: Recorded Books, 2008.
2008
Take Me Out to the Ballgame: A History of Baseball in America. Prince Frederick, MD: Recorded Books, 2008.
2008
Odyssey of the West IV: A Classic Education through the Great Books: Toward Enlightenment. Series Editor, Timothy B. Shutt. Prince Frederick, MD: Recorded Books, 2008.
2008
High Seas, High Stakes: Naval Battles that Changed the World. Prince Frederick, MD; Recorded Books, 2008.
2007
Odyssey of the West I: A Classic Education through the Great Books, Hebrews and Greeks. Series Editor, Timothy B. Shutt. Prince Frederick, MD: Recorded Books, 2007.
2006
Masterpieces of Medieval Literature. Prince Frederick, MD: Recorded Books, 2006.
2006
Dante's Divine Comedy. Prince Frederick, MD: Recorded Books, 2006.
2005
Wars that Made the Western World: The Persian Wars, the Peloponnesian War, and the Punic Wars. Prince Frederick, MD: Recorded Books, 2005.
2005
Monsters, Gods, and Heroes: Approaching the Epic in Literature. New York: Barnes & Noble, 2005.
2004
Approaching the Literature of C. S. Lewis. Prince Frederick, MD: Recorded Books, 2004.
2004
Monsters, Gods, and Heroes: Approaching the Epic in Literature. Prince Frederick, MD: Recorded Books, 2004.
2004
The Foundations of Western Thought: Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans. New York: Barnes & Noble, 2004.
2003
Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans: The Foundations of Western Civilization. Recorded Books, Barnes & Noble. 2003.
2015
“The Liberal Arts and the Pursuit of Wisdom,” The Best Kind of College: An Insiders’ Guide to America’s Small Liberal Arts College. Susan McWilliams and John E. Seery, eds. Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 2015.
2014
“Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans: A Brief Cultural Genealogy and Apologia,” Baccalaureate address, Kenyon College (May, 2013), later published in the Indiana Policy Review, Winter 2014.
2001
“Cultural Transmissions: Electronic Orality and Ergonomics of the Mind..” In Renéo Lukic and Michael Brints, eds. Culture, Politics, and Nationalism in the Age of Globalization. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 2001
2015
“At the Heart of Dante’s Commedia: Envy and its Antidote.” The Kenyon Lifelong Learning Program, Delivered, 2010, Cincinnati; 2011, Cleveland; 2012, Seattle; 2012, Chapel Hill, NC; 2013, Columbus; 2014, Atlanta; 2015, Minneapolis; 2015, Denver.
2013
“Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans: A Brief Cultural Genealogy and Apologia,” Baccalaureate address, Kenyon College (May, 2013).
2009
“James McNeill Whistler.” The Kenyon Lifelong Learning Program, Delivered: 2009, Lowell, MA.
2009
“The Strangeness of Matthew 6: 9-13.” The Kenyon Lifelong Learning Program. Delivered: 2009, Pittsburgh.
2007
“Competence, Courage, and Compassion: Brasidas the Spartan and Lord Nelson as Exemplars of Inspiring Leadership.” The Kenyon Lifelong Learning Program. Delivered: 2007. New York.
2007
“The Liberal Arts and the Pursuit of Wisdom.” Cum Laude Society address delivered at The Hotchkiss School, Lakeville, CT (May 2007).
2006
“Interdisciplinary Teaching in the Introductory Course in the Integrated Program in Humane Studies at Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio, U.S.A.” At the International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences at the University of the Aegean, Island of Rhodes, Greece (July 2006).
2006
“The Good Citizen: A Classical Perspective.” The Kenyon Lifelong Learning Program. Delivered: 2006, Boston.