Fisher's first teaching appointment was as an assistant at the
University of Pennsylvania (1942–45). After receiving his Ph.D. he taught at
New York University (1945–55, 1962–72);
Duke University (1955–60);
Indiana University (1960–62). From 1972 to 1988 he was the John C. Hodges Professor of English at the
University of Tennessee (1972–88), and was the head of their English Department from 1976 to 1978. He was a visiting professor at New York University in 1990 and at
University of Texas at San Antonio in 1996. He served as executive secretary and president of the
Modern Language Association; as executive secretary he was involved in the visa application process for
Carlos Fuentes, who had been denied entrance to the U.S., and was instrumental in the foundation of the
Association of Departments of English. He was president of the
New Chaucer Society, which he co-founded in 1974. He was a Fellow of the
Medieval Academy of America and was elected vice-president (1985–86) and president (1987); he also served as President of the Fellows (1993–1996). The
South Atlantic Modern Language Association has an award in his honor, as does the
John Gower Society.
Loyola University Chicago awarded him an
L.H.D. in 1970, and
Middlebury College a
Litt.D. in that same year. He was made a
Professor Emeritus at the University of Tennessee. Joseph Trahern edited a
Festschrift in his honor,
Standardizing English: Essays in the History of the English Language in Honor of John Hurt Fisher (University of Tennessee Press, 1989). ==Scholarly contributions==