CCTE recognizes ACU Language and Literature

faculty

Posted March 26, 2014

Four ACU Department of Language and Literature faculty members were recognized at the Conference of College Teachers of English (CCTE) on March 1-3.

Sherry Rankin, instructor of English, won the award for best pedagogy paper in CCTE’s Literature, Film, and Popular Culture section. Her paper on using Tolkien in the British literature survey course will be published in CCTE Studies, a peer-reviewed scholarly journal.

Erin Daugherty, M.A. student, garnered an Honorable Mention from CCTE’s Creative Writing section for her poem “Yellow Stripes Between.”

Sarah Eason, M.A. student, won the Best Paper in Shakespeare Award for her presentation, “‘Where two raging fires meet together’: Constructed Gender Performances of Kate and Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew.”

Dr. Chris Willerton, professor of English, won the Frances Hernandez Teacher-Scholar Award. He was recognized for being an excellent undergraduate instructor and a mentor for many of his colleagues. Dr. Nancy Jordan, ACU professor of English, is a previous recipient of the Hernandez Teacher-Scholar award.

“The fact that we have won two Hernandez awards speaks well of our department,” says Dr. Cole Bennett, chair of the Department of Language and Literature. “While I am quite pleased to be associated with colleagues who win such awards, I am not surprised. The quality of teaching and scholarship in which our department is engaged is unparalleled.”

Delony named Culp Distinguished Professor

Posted March 21, 2014

Dr. Mikee Delony, associate professor of English at ACU, has been named the James W. Culp Distinguished Professor for 2014-17. Named after the former chair of ACU’s English department, the endowed professorship recognizes Delony as a Christian scholar, role model and mentor.

Dr. Delony says she didn’t start out to be an English teacher – or any kind of teacher. In fact, she went straight from high school to the workforce, and it was years before she began to pursue a bachelor’s degree.

When she started college, Delony intended to earn her B.A. and stop there. But as she discovered how much she loved learning about English literature, she realized she had a gift for teaching it.

“A friend once told me that when you find your gift, it gives you energy,” she said. “That’s what teaching does for me. There’s just so much to talk about and discuss – there’s always a conversation to be had. Teaching is the most wonderful, energizing thing I’ve ever done.”

In 1986, friends and former students established the endowed professorship to honor Dr. James Culp (’49), while honoring a distinguished language and literature faculty member. Culp specified that the income from the endowment be used for research and academic support to allow the recipient to engage in reflection and study of his or her field.

Culp was the first to hold the professorship, from 1986 until his retirement in 1992. Since then, recipients have included Dr. Darryl Tippens, Dr. Gay Barton, Dr. Steve Weathers, Al Haley and Dr. Chris Willerton.