Department faculty, staff and students have received dozens of awards this year.

Here are some of the highlights:

• Adare Smith (PhD) received a fellowship from the McNeil Center for Early American Studies. She will spend the year studying at the University of Pennsylvania as an MCEAS Consortium Dissertation Fellow. Adare is a PhD student in the Department of English, and an Early American and Black Atlantic World scholar.

• Professor emeritus Teresa Mangum is the recipient of the prestigious Francis March Award. Mangum was granted the award for recognition of her contribution to English studies. Previous winners include former English Department chairs John Gerber and Richard Lloyd Jones.

• Darius Stewart’s (PhD) memoir Be Not Afraid of My Body: A Lyrical Memoir, was named a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Memoir/Biography. Darius is a current PhD candidate and instructor in the Department of English.

• Professor Christopher Merrill was awarded the 2025 Ottaway Award for the Promotion of International Literature. The award was given to Merrill by Words Without Borders for recognition of his “extraordinary work as an advocate of international literature who has advanced its reach in the anglophone world through cultural diplomacy and by uplifting international writers”.

• Professors Kaveh Akbar and Melissa Febos were appointed the Roy J. Carver Professorship, a five-year appointment which recognizes the highest levels of achievement in scholarship and teaching.
• Professor John D’Agata received the Outstanding Outreach and Public Engagement Award for his work to bring the University to broader communities in significant and sustained ways.
• Professor Harry Stecopoulos was awarded the International Engagement Teaching Award for his work fostering international learning experiences for students.
• Professor Claire Fox was awarded an Honors Mentoring Award for recognition of her work as a thesis and honors mentor in the education of honors students.
• For excellence in teaching, Sarah Frank (PhD), Mishma Nixon (NWP), Katie Randazzo (PhD) and Heidie Senseman (NWP) were each awarded the UI Council on Teaching's Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award; Mishma Nixon (NWP) and Sarah Bari (NWP) were awarded the Carl Klaus Teaching Award.

Congratulations to all!