Upon completing her PhD at The Ohio State University (OSU), Dr. Mira ‘Assaf stayed in Columbus, Ohio to serve as Senior Lecturer at OSU and start a family. But when Dr. Ania Spyra, Professor of English at Butler, called to see if ‘Assaf would be interested in a Shakespeare position, ‘Assaf felt it was “the right place and the right time.”
Butler’s commitment to liberal arts and smaller, more intimate classrooms offered an environment where ‘Assaf could teach Shakespeare and early modern literature in a way that aligned with how her academic focus had evolved during and since graduate school. She also holds a 50 percent appointment in the Race, Gender, and Sexuality Studies program.
She was most excited that Butler “was looking for someone who doesn’t teach Shakespeare as the ‘glorious dead white man’ we’ve inherited,” she says. “They would appreciate my framework of pre-modern critical race studies.”
While still in graduate school, ‘Assaf began enrolling in workshops and attending seminars and conferences focused on Shakespeare, race, and racism, many of which were located at or funded by the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC.
So, when she was awarded a prestigious Folger Shakespeare Library Long-Term Fellowship for the 2023–2024 academic year, she described it as “winning the lottery.”
Through her fellowship, ‘Assaf accessed rare texts, consulted with experts, and worked on her book, Royal Marriage, Foreign Queens, and Constructions of Race in Early Modern England, which is under contract with the Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies Press and due to be published in 2026.
The renovation project the Library was undergoing at the time had a silver lining: The Newberry Library in Chicago granted ‘Assaf visiting scholar privileges, allowing her access to their archive of rare books, maps, and manuscripts.
“The Newberry’s rich collection on indigeneity was particularly illuminating,” she says.
The fellowship also signals to ‘Assaf a new direction to include academics who work in teaching universities, people whose voices are central to the study of Shakespeare and pre-modern culture.
She was eager to return to Butler to share what she had been studying with her students, who she describes as engaged, prepared, curious, and mindful of their educational trajectory.
“There is a sense of deep, deep conviction in the importance of the field and importance of the skills that an English degree brings to any workplace,” says ‘Assaf.
Her work extends beyond the classroom in a unique way. As a faculty-in-residence (FIR) living in Residential College (ResCo), she has created a space where students, especially students of color, can see themselves reflected in academic and leadership roles.
“It helps very much because this is the generation I’m teaching,” she says. “The more I know about them, their worldviews, the way they speak, the better. It very much completes me intellectually and interpersonally, to be seen as a caregiver and an academic.”
Food plays a special role in ‘Assaf’s approach to community building. Many of the events she hosts for her wing at ResCo are either directly or indirectly related to food. She grew up in Lebanon during the tail end of the civil war, an experience that instilled in her a deep empathy for students facing financial pressures. She even keeps a snack stand outside her apartment, an idea borrowed from her fellow FIR, Alexander Carter.
“I also love playing host to parents,” says ‘Assaf. “They just want to know their kids are okay and that someone is caring for them.”