Have you ever met someone with remarkable intelligence and an equally remarkable passion for learning? If you haven’t, I suggest you take a trip to see Dr. Jenny Flaherty, a Shakespearean scholar, traveler of almost 30 countries, and an avid patron of the arts. Dr. Flaherty often teaches Shakespeare, Milton, Renaissance, World Literature, and many Global Perspectives classes at Georgia College and State University. When not teaching with inspiring vigor or waiting happily in her office for her students, you will often see her at many Georgia College events, from theatre to music to those put on by her home department—English. A woman of many interests, Dr. Flaherty has a conversation in her about just about anything. Whether you enjoy discussing the intricacies of Plato’s Republic, the stigma of mental illness, or your love for adaptation theory and interdisciplinary studies, she is all ears.
Dr. Flaherty graduated from New York University, magna cum laude, from the Gallatin school of Individualized Study. There, while focusing on literature, she was also able to take other classes to grow in her many interests, including theatre, film, and psychology. Initially, she wanted to delve into autism research. When she started taking literature classes, however, she found her true passion. So, she went to grad school. At the University of North Carolina, she obtained an M.A. and a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature where her major specialization was Shakespeare Studies with minors in Dramatic, Renaissance, and Postcolonial literature.
One of the most interesting things about Dr. Flaherty is her love of travel. When I asked her about her traveling experiences, she remarked “I love everything about traveling. It’s fun to leave my comfort zone and experience new languages, landscapes, foods, art, architecture, and performance styles.” She is also a very sentimental person. While at her office, she showed me a shelf dedicated to her self-proclaimed collection of “tacky souvenirs.” Ever since she began traveling, she has taken these trinkets from each country to remember her travels. She went on to say, “One of my favorite experiences was living in England while I worked on my dissertation. I was able to study in the King’s College Shakespeare program, conduct research in the Globe archives, attend the Royal Shakespeare Company Complete Works Festival, and enjoy London in my spare time.”
In gathering knowledge about the world around us, Dr. Flaherty believes not just in the importance of travel, but the importance of student opinions. In her teaching statement, she writes, “While I use many primary and secondary sources in my teaching, I believe the students themselves are the most valuable resource.” This is because students come from a myriad of different backgrounds, which play a huge part in how they interpret literature. In the same document, when addressing what she feels the study of literature should be, she responds with “active, encouraging students to question their own assumptions about the texts and consider a multiplicity of ideas and viewpoints.” This idea transfers into many of her classes. In our papers, more weight is placed on what we think rather than what other sources think. That is because Dr. Flaherty wants to encourage her students to engage in critical thinking and improve their writing skills, while gaining confidence in their abilities.
“I love how enthusiastic she is about what she does,” remarked Melissa Cobb, a sophomore at Georgia College who also appreciated the film clips and performance reviews that Dr. Flaherty often incorporates in her lectures. This and many similar statements echo more and more as she settles in to GCSU’s English department. The longer I attend Georgia College, the more I hear them. And it’s no surprise. After two classes with her, I already feel as though my brain has been soaked in knowledge. One of the most unique things about Dr. Flaherty is her ability to guide her students with the strong leadership skills of a teacher, while demonstrating the same relentless thirst for knowledge as a student. Her passion is to never stop learning or being curious about the world around her. That is because she is not just a teacher of literature, but a student of life, leading by example, and teaching us to be students of life as well. And all of us, in the English department, across other disciplines, or even in different parts of the world, can learn something from her.