Dr. Scott O’Neil earned his PhD in English Renaissance literature in 2019 from the University of Rochester, where he was the recipient of the William H. Gilman Prize for Outstanding candidate in English Literature. Prior to Rochester, O’Neil earned an MA degree from St. Bonaventure University in 2011 and a Bachelors degree from Towson University in 2005. He began his career as a high school English teacher and curriculum designer at North Harford High School in Harford County Maryland, where he also coached soccer, tennis, and wrestling. Before arriving at Glenville State in 2025, O’Neil taught at Alfred State College, Arkansas Tech University, and St. John Fisher College.

When it comes to research, Dr. O’Neil “brings the Shakespeare.” He is an expert on medieval and early modern theater, with additional expertise in English Education, Film, and Public Speaking. O’Neil is currently hard at work on two large scale projects—a digital humanities website called The Players’ Post (a digital collection of letters written by noted Shakespearean actors from the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries) and an academic monograph focused on the role of professional court fools in the plays of William Shakespeare. O’Neil also has an interest in practical theater and theater history, having taken the stage and served as a dramaturg for several Shakespeare productions in and around the Rochester NY area.

Publications

Forthcoming:  The Players’ Post

2023 “Fool on the Body and Madness on the Mind in Marston’s Antonio Plays.” Boundaries of Violence. Eds. Matthew Carter & Sam Dressel. Routledge. 

2018 “Lorenzo Valla’s ‘intellectual violence’: Personal Feuds and Appropriated Sarcasm.” Words that Tear the Flesh: Sarcasm in Medieval and Early Modern Literature and Cultures. Eds. Alan Baragona and Elizabeth L. Rambo. De Gruyter.

2015 “Medieval Drama: An Annotated Bibliography for Teachers.” The Once and Future Classroom: Resources for Teaching the Middle Ages 12.1 (2015). 

2015 “Dagonet.” The Camelot Project. Ed. Alan Lupack. 

Professional Activities

2022  Faculty member for NEH summer Institute “Transforming Shakespeare’s Tragedies: Adaptation, Education, and Diversity.” The Institute worked with 28 high school English teachers on developing strategies for incorporating diverse adaptations of Hamlet and Othello into their teaching. 

2019  Folger Institute Short-Term Fellowship (two months) at the Folger Shakespeare Library.

2021 “Foolish Survival, Madness, and Disguise in Marston’s Antonio Plays.” Shakespeare Association of America. Austin, Texas—Online. 

2020 “Habitual Friars and Monastic Equivocation in Romeo and Juliet.” Shakespeare Association of America. Denver, Colorado—Online. April 15. 

2019 Workshop: Teaching the Premodern in a Time of White Supremacy. Shakespeare Association of America. Washington, D. C. April 20. 

2018 “The Fool's Errand: Connecting Folly and Tragedy in King Lear's Performance History.” Modern Language Association. New York, New York. January 4. 

2017 “The Kings of Subjects: Licensed Confinement and the Inversion of Authority in Love's Labour's Lost.” Shakespeare Association of America. Atlanta, Georgia. April 6. 

Fun Facts

-Dr. O’Neil edits many of the videos on the English department’s social media channels

-As a hobby, Dr. O’Neil is working on two different YouTube channels—one focused on teaching tools and strategies for high school English teachers and another about 80s and 90s pop culture nerd nostalgia.

-Dr. O’Neil holds a Secret Security Clearance through the Department of Defense. He’d tell you why, but then he’d have to something something. J