Biography
Professor James Sutton was born and raised in Michigan; he received undergraduate and Master’s degrees in English from Northwestern and Michigan and holds a Ph.D. in Renaissance Studies (1995) from Yale. Sutton is an Associate Professor in FIU’s English department, which he chaired from 2008-2016.
His early research focused on the interplay of art, architecture, dramatic performance, politics, and court intrigue in England during the reigns of Queen Elizabeth I and King James I. He currently teaches and studies Shakespeare and his plays’ global appropriation and adaptation, focusing on Slovenia and South Florida. He recently co-edited a book entitled Exile in Global Literature and Culture: Homes Found and Lost, with FIU colleague Professor Asher Milbauer. This publication has led to further inquiry on the relationship of Shakespeare to exile and dislocation.
In early 2017, Sutton spent six months in Slovenia, teaching literature at two Slovenian universities and travelling widely about central Europe. He joined the FIU Honors College—a long term goal—in the fall of 2017 and takes pride in teaching IDH 1001 and 1002 as part of the famous Gerstman/Abukhodeir/Sutton POD ever since.
Honors Study Abroad in the United Kingdom
Long the co-director of the successful FIU Study Abroad program, “Shakespeare in England,” Professor Sutton created and launched this Honors College UK program in 2019, journeying to London, York, Scotland and the Highlands, the Lake District, Manchester, and Stratford-upon-Avon.
Although Covid-19 nixed travel abroad in 2020 and 2021, Sutton successfully jump-started the program once again in 2022, leading a fantastic group of 20 students to London, Oxford, Manchester and Liverpool, Belfast and Northern Ireland, Wales, and Bath + Stonehenge. In 2023, 20 students joined Sutton to explore London and the southeast, West Ireland and Dublin, Cornwall, Devon, Bristol and Bath. In 2024, he sought a new cohort of 22 adventurous, curious students prepared for new endeavors in England and Scotland.