October 18, 2006

News Brief: New English Professorship Announced

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The English department has created a new visiting professorship, the University announced recently. Stephen H. Weiss, former chair of the Board of Trustees, helped found the M. H. Abrams Distinguished Visiting Professorship in honor of his long-time friend.
Abrams, the Class of ’16 Professor emeritus, is considered of the most respected modern literary scholars. He created the Norton Anthology of English Literature and served as editor for over 40 years.
Sandra Gilbert ’57, a literary critic and English professor from the University of California, Davis, was announced as the first person to hold the professorship, beginning this spring. Gilbert will teach upper-level undergraduate and graduate seminars on topics relating to gender studies.
Gilbert, who has served as president of the Modern Language Association, studied with Abrams when she was an undergraduate at Cornell.
“I’m truly honored to accept your wonderful offer. It’s so extraordinarily flattering to be asked to occupy the Abrams Visiting Professorship — a position named for my all-time favorite teacher, sometimes I think my only teacher — that I hardly know how to formulate my gratitude,” Gilbert said in a press release.
— Written by Rebecca Shoval