--- title: A Peek Inside … English Professor Christina Walter’s Office date: 2024-01-30T05:30:00-05:00 author: University of Maryland canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/a-peek-inside-english-professor-christina-walters-office" section: Articles --- # A Peek Inside … English Professor Christina Walter’s Office *January 30, 2024* — by [Karen Shih ’09](/author/karen-shih) > With Collection of Optical Toys, Seeing Isn’t Always Believing *Christina Walter Office 01102024 SC 0251 1920x1080 — English Professor Christina Walter's office is full of 19th- and 20th-century scientific curiosities, which she often brings to class to share with students.* Most elementary schoolers never stretched out in a PET scan machine for kicks after school or used what they know about electrocardiograms to win a spelling bee. But growing up with a dad who installed and repaired hospital equipment, Associate Professor of English Christina Walter developed a fascination with technologies for studying the human body at an early age. She carried it into her path in academia, focusing on early 20th century literature in an age of transformational scientific discoveries, from penicillin to the rise of medical x-rays. “Writers and artists are using these experiments and inventions as prompts to think about the implications of science,” said Walter. Since joining UMD in 2008, she has explored the psychology and physiology of human vision and is now examining how popular conceptions of the gut microbiome—the most fundamental of bodily systems—have changed. From her office in Tawes Hall, Walter explains why she has glass eyes on her windowsill, how she got a piece of Virginia Woolf’s house and the edible nature of one of her class projects. *glass eyes and other optical objects* --- *piece of wall next to mug of pencils* --- *four jars with corks* --- *three wall prints that read, "She who teaches, learns," "When I is replaced by we, illness becomes wellness - Malcolm X," and "The artist must elect to fight for freedom or for slavery. I have made my choice. I had no alternative. - Paul Robeson"* --- *owl pellet and three green 3D-printed teeth* **Topics:** [Campus & Community](https://today.umd.edu/tags/campus-community) **Tags:** [English](https://today.umd.edu/topic/english), [A Peek Inside](https://today.umd.edu/topic/a-peek-inside) **Units:** [College of Arts and Humanities](https://today.umd.edu/topic/college-arts-and-humanities)