At which university did J.R.R. Tolkien hold most of his academic career?

J.R.R. Tolkien held most of his academic career at the University of Oxford.

Tolkien studied classics and English at Exeter College, Oxford, and later returned to the university as a teacher and professor. He held the Rawlinson and Bosworth Professorship of Anglo-Saxon from 1925 to 1945, then served as Merton Professor of English Language and Literature from 1945 until 1959.

Oxford provided the setting for much of Tolkien’s scholarly work in languages, medieval literature, and philology. It also connected him with fellow writers, including C.S. Lewis, through the informal literary group known as the Inklings.

Tolkien did work elsewhere, including at the University of Leeds early in his teaching career. However, Oxford is the institution most strongly associated with his long academic life and literary development.