June 13, 2001

Contact: James Hartman, English, (785) 864-2521.

KU English department awards 4 professorships

LAWRENCE -- This fall, four professors whose specialties include Caribbean literature, rhetoric, Shakespeare and playwriting will be the first recipients of a new teaching professorship in the University of Kansas Department of English.

The first four Esther Conger Gabel and M. Wren Gabel teaching professors will be Giselle Anatol, an assistant professor whose area of expertise is African-American and Carribean literature; and professors David Bergeron, a specialist in English Renaissance subjects such as Shakespeare and King James; Amy Devitt, who specializes in composition and rhetoric; and Paul Stephen Lim, a playwright who has developed the only play-producing organization in a U.S. university English department, the English Alternative Theatre. Each will hold the professorship for three years, at which time they will choose the next recipients.

"Part of the purpose of a professorship is to attract and retain great teachers," said James Hartman, English department chair. "The award is having that impact right now. In a time when people are faced with offers to go to other institutions, we can single out and reward excellence in teaching. The recipients are all outstanding teachers, and we are grateful for the means to recognize them for their efforts."

The professorship is named for KU alumni M. Wren Gabel, a 1931 chemical engineering graduate, and his wife Esther Conger Gabel, a 1932 English graduate. The Gabels, who reside in Rochester, N.Y., provided the financial support to create the professorship.