Hi! Since you’re new to working with me as your advisor (and I’m relatively new to working at Johns Hopkins University), I put together this website bio so you could all get a chance to learn a bit about me: who I am, what motivates me, and what you can expect from me as your academic advisor here at Hopkins.
I’ve been advising high-achieving undergraduate students in some capacity for the better part of a decade. Prior to joining Hopkins in the middle of October I was the Honors College Coordinator at Towson University (a public university located up Charles Street and right across the Baltimore City/County line) where I advised students and managed the program’s admissions process for over seven years. Before that I was a Program Coordinator and Lecturer with the Honors Humanities program at the University of Maryland, College Park during my graduate studies.
I studied art history at the University of Maryland, College Park, earning my Ph.D. in 2014 with a dissertation on the artistic and teaching practice of 18th/19th Anglo-American painter Benjamin West (a couple of his works, including a self-portrait, are on display at the Baltimore Museum of Art!). I also earned an M.A. degree in art history, and as an undergraduate double-majored in history and art history.
Though I love to travel, I’ve lived in Maryland my entire life, growing up in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. before moving to the Baltimore suburbs about a decade ago. I currently live in Ellicott City, a small town to the southwest of Baltimore, with my wife and our six-year-old son.
Parenting a child takes up a lot of time and attention, so don’t be surprised to see me find all sorts of ways to bring up my son in conversation.
When I’m not at work I spend a fair amount of time playing or following sports. I’ve played ice hockey since I was a small kid and still do so in adult hockey leagues, and I’m a big fan of the Washington Capitals. More recently I’ve taken up disc golf, which is great for social distancing and getting outdoors.
A few other brief and interesting facts about me:
- Growing up I was in Boy Scouts, eventually earning the rank of Eagle Scout. I’m now the Den Leader for my son’s Cub Scout den.
- I read and collect comic books, and at multiple institutions have taught a course on comic books and visual arts.
- I’m also into board games. Some of my favorites are Ticket to Ride, Azul, Betrayal at House on the Hill, and Fluxx.
- For a few years in grad school I worked as a reporter for a couple of now-defunct sports blogs in the greater DMV area, and before that wrote a column in my college newspaper and was an editor for my high school newspaper.
- For a separate, but overlapping, few years in grad school I gave tours of museums and historic sites in D.C.
- I have appeared as an extra in multiple national television ads for GEICO.
- Once I threw out the first pitch for a minor league baseball game when I was a small child.
- I read or listened to 49 books in 2022. My favorites were all of the Old Man’s War series (except for the first, titular novel) by John Scalzi, The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern, and the first two books of the Scholomance trilogy by Naomi Novik, A Deadly Education and The Last Graduate. I’ve finished four books so far, including the final Scholomance book, The Golden Enclaves.
- I have actually met someone named Johns Hopkins. He’s a nice guy.
I’m excited to be here at Johns Hopkins University and work with you! You can reach me at abram@jhu.edu, schedule an appointment with me directly using my Bookings link (also posted on the Academic Advising website), or stopping by my office in Office of Academic Advising suite on the 5th floor of the Wyman Park Building. When students are on campus you can find me on campus Wednesdays through Fridays (though I only take advising appointments on Thursdays and Fridays), and at all times you can find me on Zoom. Don’t hesitate to reach out if you need anything or just want to check in and say hello!
Abram Fox 