Sarah Higinbotham
Associate Professor of English
Dr. Sarah Higinbotham is an associate professor of English at Oxford College of Emory University whose work demonstrates how literature can illuminate, critique, and ultimately humanize the law. In her scholarship and in the classroom, she explores Shakespeare, Milton, and early modern texts alongside questions of legal power, human rights, and the lived experience of justice, inviting students to see how story and statute continually shape one another.
Since joining the Oxford faculty in 2017, Dr. Higinbotham has cultivated a distinctly experiential approach to learning: students read closely, but they also step beyond the page—to observe court proceedings, partner with community organizations, join college classes inside prison, and practice critical inquiry that links canonical texts with contemporary civic life. That same ethos animated the inaugural London Launch, , where she guided first-year Oxford students through the intersections of literature, theater, and history, framing the city as a living archive that sharpens ethical attention and global perspective.
Her commitment to public scholarship is equally formative. While earning her PhD, she began teaching college courses inside a Georgia state prison—work that grew into Common Good Atlanta, the nonprofit she co-founded to connect Georgia’s colleges with prisons for sustained, accredited higher education. Today, the program thrivesacross eight prisons, five days a week, and stands as a model of humane, rigorous liberal-arts education beyond campus walls. in 2025, Emory recognized that impact with its Community Impact Award to Dr. Higinbotham and co-founder Bill Taft.
A Folger Shakespeare Library Residential Fellow, Dr. Higinbotham has pursued archival research on juries, sentencing, and legal records, complementing that work with training
in paleography and rare-book studies. Yet what distinguishes her most is how these scholarly pursuits continually return to students: whether in Oxford classrooms, Georgia prisons, or on London streets, she models careful reading and ethical imagination as civic practices—habits that help students recognize dignity, argue for justice, and carry the liberal arts into the world.
Her career is anchored by intellectual rigor, student investment, and a rare capacity to turn learning into public good. In every context, Dr. Higinbotham’s through-line is clear: scholarship that serves, teaching that transforms, and communities strengthened by equitable access to education.
She embodies the very spirit of an Oxford professor—welcoming students into her home for evenings of reading poetry by a bonfire, inviting alumni and guest speakers back to campus, and showing up enthusiastically at student events throughout the year.
Since joining the Oxford faculty in 2017, Dr. Higinbotham has cultivated a distinctly experiential approach to learning: students read closely, but they also step beyond the page—to observe court proceedings, partner with community organizations, join college classes inside prison, and practice critical inquiry that links canonical texts with contemporary civic life. That same ethos animated the inaugural London Launch, , where she guided first-year Oxford students through the intersections of literature, theater, and history, framing the city as a living archive that sharpens ethical attention and global perspective.
Her commitment to public scholarship is equally formative. While earning her PhD, she began teaching college courses inside a Georgia state prison—work that grew into Common Good Atlanta, the nonprofit she co-founded to connect Georgia’s colleges with prisons for sustained, accredited higher education. Today, the program thrivesacross eight prisons, five days a week, and stands as a model of humane, rigorous liberal-arts education beyond campus walls. in 2025, Emory recognized that impact with its Community Impact Award to Dr. Higinbotham and co-founder Bill Taft.
A Folger Shakespeare Library Residential Fellow, Dr. Higinbotham has pursued archival research on juries, sentencing, and legal records, complementing that work with training
in paleography and rare-book studies. Yet what distinguishes her most is how these scholarly pursuits continually return to students: whether in Oxford classrooms, Georgia prisons, or on London streets, she models careful reading and ethical imagination as civic practices—habits that help students recognize dignity, argue for justice, and carry the liberal arts into the world.
Her career is anchored by intellectual rigor, student investment, and a rare capacity to turn learning into public good. In every context, Dr. Higinbotham’s through-line is clear: scholarship that serves, teaching that transforms, and communities strengthened by equitable access to education.
She embodies the very spirit of an Oxford professor—welcoming students into her home for evenings of reading poetry by a bonfire, inviting alumni and guest speakers back to campus, and showing up enthusiastically at student events throughout the year.