Alumnus Leads Creative Courses From Hamlet to Homelessness

Fee helped students stage a production of Hamlet in the show's
original location, Helsingør.  Above, Fee is holding the skull
celebrities like Jude Law and Kenneth Brannagh used when
performing there.

English alumnus Christopher Fee '89 has forged a reputation for leading creative, immersive experiences as a college professor and Chair of English at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania.

Fee spent the spring semester living and teaching in Copenhagen, Denmark, where he and his students took a deep dive into Shakespeare's Hamlet: Prince of Denmark. This course gave students the opportunity to perform the show in its original setting of Kronborg Castle in Helsingør. Fee developed the experiential course with the help of BW professors Adam Heffernan, Jack Winget, and Susan Oldrieve. He also taught a second course in Copenhagen called Vikings in Britain 793-1066. Students in that  class were given the chance to ride on a replica long ship.

Back in the states, Fee has been featured in the Washington Post and other national media for creating a popular course at Gettysburg titled, Tryin’ to Find a Way Back Home: An Introduction to the Literature and Legacy of Homelessness in America. The service-learning course includes "rigorous academic content, a substantial weekly service commitment in the local community, overnight duty in a local cold-weather emergency shelter, and a five-day trip to Washington, DC to work in urban shelters and soup kitchens." The course has another BW connection; it was established in partnership with BW alumna Gretchen Carlson Natter '96, who serves as Executive Director of the Center for Public Service at Gettysburg College.