Veteran 桃花直播 faculty member, author takes helm of CMLL department
Contact: Sarah Nicholas
STARKVILLE, Miss.鈥斕一ㄖ辈 State Professor Robert M. West adds interim department head for the Department of Classical and Modern Languages and Literatures to his leadership positions on campus.
A faculty member in the English department since 2002, West was instrumental in 桃花直播鈥檚 2019 installation of a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, the oldest academic honors organization in the United States. He is currently the president of 桃花直播鈥檚 PBK chapter, and also chairs the membership committee that selects students for induction.
鈥淒r. West is a long-time member of the faculty in the English department and as such he has shared background regarding the teaching and research challenges in the humanities,鈥 said Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Rick Travis. 鈥淎dd on his experience as the associate editor of 桃花直播 Quarterly, which is housed in our college, and he has seen many aspects of administration. He will be a wise decision maker and effective advocate for the department.鈥
A native of North Carolina, West is editor of聽鈥淭he Complete Poems of A. R. Ammons,鈥 a 2017 W.W. Norton & Co. publication. He served as interim director of the聽Judy and Bobby Shackouls Honors College for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Travis said West鈥檚 leadership efforts to bring PBK to 桃花直播 helped West become 鈥渁cquainted with the great breadth of our college鈥 and 鈥渧ery well-versed鈥 in the administrative structure of the university.
鈥淚鈥檝e admired this department for over 20 years, and I feel honored to have the opportunity to serve its faculty and students in this way. The study of languages and literatures from around the globe has long been central to the work of a world-class university, and I鈥檒l be a vigorous advocate for it during my time as interim department head,鈥 West said.
West鈥檚 essays, book reviews and poems have appeared in聽publications including Alabama Literary Review,聽American Life in Poetry, Appalachian Journal, The Best Nonrequired Reading, Christian Science Monitor, Poetry, South Atlantic Review,聽Southern Poetry Review聽and Southern Quarterly.聽
His other publications include the poetry chapbook 鈥淐onvalescent鈥澛(2011)聽and an anthology he co-edited with poet Jonathan Greene, 鈥淪uccinct: The Broadstone Anthology of Short Poems鈥 (2013).聽
West鈥檚 forthcoming book 鈥淩obert Morgan: Essays on the Life and Work鈥 is due out this year from McFarland. West co-edited the collection of essays on the poet and novelist with Jesse Graves, an East Tennessee State University professor of English.
West earned his Ph.D. and master鈥檚 degrees, both in English, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.聽 He has a bachelor鈥檚 degree in English from Wake Forest University.聽
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