Heather Houser
Associate Professor — Ph.D., 2010, Stanford University
(she/her)

Contact
- E-mail: houserh@utexas.edu
- Phone: n/a during pandemic
- Office: PAR 228
- Office Hours: Weds. 1:30-3pm, 5-5:30pm CT. Sign up at www.wejoinin.com/sheets/bvxov/
- Campus Mail Code: B5000
Interests
20th- and 21st-century fiction (US focus); environmental literature and humanities; science & technology studies; the medical humanities; affect studies; data in narrative and new media
Biography
Infowhelm is out now! (30% off at Columbia Univ. Press with code CUP30)
Infowhelm analyzes how artists transform the techniques of the sciences into aesthetic material, repurposing data on everything from butterfly migration to oil spills and experimenting with data collection, classification, and remote sensing. Houser traces how artists ranging from novelist Barbara Kingsolver to digital memorialist Maya Lin rework knowledge traditions native to the sciences, entangling data with embodiment, quantification with speculation, precision with ambiguity, and observation with feeling.
See website for most up-to-date info: heatherhouser.com
I'm an associate professor of English at The University of Texas at Austin and hold affiliations with American Studies, Center for Women's and Gender Studies, and Rapoport Center for Human Rights & Justice. My first book is Ecosickness in Contemporary U.S. Fiction: Environment and Affect (Columbia UP, 2014), which won the 2015 Association for the Study of the Arts of the Present (ASAP) Book Prize and was shortlisted for the 2014 British Society for Literature and Science (BSLS) Book Prize. My new book, Infowhelm: Environmental Art and Literature in an Age of Data, appeared with Columbia UP in May 2020. In 2019-20, I was chair of the Organizing Committee of Planet Texas 2050, UT's first Bridging Barriers grand research challenge. I'm also the Associate Graduate Advisor for English in 2020-21 and an associate editor at Contemporary Literature.
My research has been supported by external fellowships from the Tanner Humanities Center at the University of Utah (2018-19), American Academy of Arts & Sciences (2013-14), Mellon Foundation (2010-11), Whiting Foundation (2009-10), and US Department of Education Jacob K. Javits Program (2004-08).
Recent essays appear in: New York Review of Books Daily, LitHub, New Literary History, ASAP/Journal, English Language Notes, Modern Fiction Studies. I'm no longer keeping this up to date as of June 2020; see heatherhouser.com for full, current list of pubs.
Recent op-eds in Austin American-Statesman, Waco Tribune-Herald, Corpus-Christi Caller-Times (April 2020); Abilene Reporter News; Austin American-Statesman; San Antonio Express-News (Oct 2020); Life & Letters (June 2018); Dallas Morning-News, Houston Chronicle (March 2017). I'm no longer keeping this up to date as of June 2020; see heatherhouser.com for full, current list of pubs.
Courses
E 384M • Professional Outcomes-Wb
36315 • Spring 2021
Meets M 3:00PM-6:00PM
Internet; Synchronous
E 343G • Global Envirmntl Lit/Film-Wb
34940 • Fall 2020
Meets MWF 12:00PM-1:00PM
Internet; Synchronous
EGCII
E 349S • David Foster Wallace
35095 • Fall 2019
Meets TTH 11:00AM-12:30PM CAL 419
IIWr
(also listed as LAH 350)
E 395M • Environmental Criticism
35320 • Fall 2019
Meets M 5:00PM-8:00PM PAR 210
E S349S • Zadie Smith-Gbr
81430 • Summer 2018
E 303D • Plan II World Lit Part II
34250 • Spring 2018
Meets TTH 9:30AM-11:00AM PAR 210
Wr
HU
E 384K • Scholarly Publication
35235 • Spring 2018
Meets T 2:00PM-5:00PM CAL 323
E 395M • American Fiction Now
35870 • Fall 2017
Meets W 5:00PM-8:00PM CAL 419
E 384K • Scholarly Publication
35670 • Spring 2017
Meets M 4:00PM-7:00PM CAL 200
E 303C • Plan II World Lit Part I
34551 • Fall 2016
Meets MW 10:00AM-11:30AM CAL 200
GC
C1
E 368H • Honors Tutorial Course I
35505 • Fall 2016
Meets MW 11:30AM-1:00PM PAR 306
E 395M • Environmental Criticism
34960 • Spring 2016
Meets T 5:00PM-8:00PM CAL 200
E 679HA • Honors Tutorial Course
34670 • Fall 2015
Meets MWF 1:00PM-2:00PM MEZ 1.208
E 314J • Reading Graphic Narratives
34075 • Spring 2015
Meets TTH 11:00AM-12:30PM CAL 200
Wr
E 377M • American Novel After 1960
34965 • Spring 2015
Meets TTH 2:00PM-3:30PM GAR 3.116
Wr
E 349S • David Foster Wallace
35800 • Fall 2014
Meets TTH 11:00AM-12:30PM CBA 4.342
Wr
(also listed as LAH 350)
E 360S • Global Environment Lit & Film
35890 • Fall 2014
Meets TTH 2:00PM-3:30PM WAG 308
EGCWr
(also listed as BDP 329)
E 324 • American Novels After 1960
35327 • Spring 2013
Meets MWF 2:00PM-3:00PM PAR 204
E 395M • The Postmodern Novel & Beyond
35880 • Spring 2013
Meets M 6:00PM-9:00PM PAR 210
E 349S • David Foster Wallace
35465 • Fall 2012
Meets TTH 12:30PM-2:00PM CAL 419
Wr
(also listed as LAH 350)
E 379R • Environmntl Fiction/Criticism
35520 • Spring 2012
Meets TTH 12:30PM-2:00PM PAR 302
IIWr
E 379R • Environmntl Fiction/Criticism
35517 • Fall 2011
Meets TTH 11:00AM-12:30PM PAR 302
IIWr
Awards & Honors
Faculty Research Assignment, UT Austin, Spring 2020.
Visiting Research Fellowship, Tanner Humanities Center, University of Utah, 2018-19.
Humanities Research Award, UT Austin, 2016-19.
Raymond Dickson Centennial Teaching Award, UT Austin, 2017-18.
Independent Inquiry Course Development Award, UT Austin, Summer 2017.
Summer Research Awards, UT Austin, Summer 2012 & Summer 2015.
Special Research Grant, UT Austin, Spring 2015.
Book Prize from Association for the Study of Arts of the Present (ASAP), for Ecosickness in Contemporary U.S. Fiction, 2015.
Faculty Fellow, Humanities Institute, UT Austin, Fall 2015.
Finalist for Book Prize from British Society of Literature and Science, for Ecosickness in Contemporary U.S. Fiction, 2014.
Visiting Scholar, American Academy of Arts & Sciences, 2013-14.
Sustainability Course Development Award, UT Austin, 2013-14.
Society for Teaching Excellence, UT Austin, Inducted 2012.
Best Research Essay Prize in English, Honorable Mention, UT Austin, 2012.
Faculty Development Program, Center for Women's & Gender Studies, UT Austin, 2011-12.
Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship, Center for Environmental Studies, Williams College, 2010-11.
Mrs. Giles Whiting Dissertation Fellowship, 2009-10.
Jacob K. Javits Fellowship, United States Department of Education, 2004-08.
Current Service
UNIVERSITY
Planet Texas 2050 Bridging Barriers Grand Challenge, Theme Organizing Committee, 2017-present (Chair 2019-2020)
Faculty Campus Carbon Emissions Group, 2019-present
Mentor, Plan II Skaaren Trust Climate Fellows Program, 2019-2020.
Member, Search Committee for position in “Metropolitan/Urban Governance and Policy,” LBJ School for Public Affairs and Planet Texas 2050, 2019-2020.
Planet Texas 2050, Community Engagement Committee, 2018-present
Fulbright Awards Committee, 2019-2020
Environmental Humanities @UT, Founder & Faculty Organizer, 2014-present
NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL
Associate Editor for American Fiction Studies, Contemporary Literature
Editorial Board, American Literary History
Editorial Board, American Literature
Advisory Board, Fiege Films
Advisory Board, InVisible Culture