Washington College Magazine
Faculty News
Phi Beta Kappa Installation
Washington College's charter members of Theta Chapter, Phi Beta Kappa Society, were installed during George Washington's Birthday Convocation in February. Pictured are (front, l to r): John B. Taylor, President Baird Tipson, John S. Toll, Aileen D. Tsui and T. Clayton Black. (middle row): Ruth C. Shoge, Jennifer M. Whitehead, Juan Lin, Andrew L. Oros, W. Robert Fallaw and Martin A. Connaughton. (back row): Christopher Ames, Alisha R. Knight, Corey A. Olsen, Jeffrey D. Brown, Davy H. McCall and Peter J. Weigel. Not pictured: Katherine S. Maynard and Rosette M. Roat-Malone.
photo: Melissa Grimes-Guy
Wilson Fellowship Supports Professor's Literary History Project
Alisha Knight, assistant professor of English and American studies and Director of Black Studies, has been awarded a Woodrow Wilson Career Enhancement Fellowship. She is one of only 20 nationwide to receive the award. The Wilson Fellowship, funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, will support Knight's research into a unique aspect in the development of African-American literary history: the role of 19th-century subscription publishing.
Subscription books geared toward African-American readers were sold door-to-door by traveling agents. On the one hand, subscription publishing arguably was an optimal method for disseminating books to a primarily rural African-American readership that had limited access to bookstores. On the other hand, by the 1870s subscription publishing was suffering from a diminished reputation in their pursuit of scholarly research and writing in order to support their chances for success as tenured academics.
Dr. Knight's project attempts to answer important questions about why African-American authors would choose subscription publishing and thereby risk their literary reputations. Studying book-dissemination methods can shed light on the roles these authors assumed as agents for social change.
Kappa Alpha Professor of the Year
Don Munson, the Joseph H. McLain Professor of Environmental Studies, shown here with former environmental studies majors Matthew Mullin '96 and Katy Bishop '04, was named the 2006 Kappa Alpha Professor of the Year. He was nominated by several brothers who cited his excellence in the classroom and his dedication to teaching.
Political Scientist Wins Book Award
Melissa Deckman, associate professor of political science, has won the American Political Science Association's Hubert Morken Award for the best publication dealing with religion and politics. Dr. Deckman's book School Board Battles: The Christian Right in Local Politics (Georgetown University Press) garnered the prize. School Board Battles examines the often discussed but superficially understood cultural and political war taking place in school districts nationwide where secularity and religion clash on issues such as evolution, multiculturalism, censorship and sexual mores.
In addition to broader interests in American politics, Deckman specializes in the areas of religion and politics, state and local politics, and women and politics. She is also engaged in an ongoing research project about the political behavior of women clergy.
Deckman will travel to Chicago to receive the award at the American Political Science Association's annual meeting in September.
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