Former Professor of English at Ohio State University and Director of its Institute for Collaborative Research and Public Humanities. He is a scholar of medieval English literature and author and editor of books and articles on medieval literature and culture, particularly travel and geographical writing of the period. He also co-edited the recently published The American Midwest: An Interpretive Encyclopedia. The Institute he directs co-sponsors with the state humanities council a statewide Ohio Chautauqua and produces other projects designed to extend the humanities to the general public.