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News and Event Releases > English and Philosophy Professors Named to New Academic Chairs

English and Philosophy Professors Named to New Academic Chairs

Dr. Steven Smith, professor of philosophy and religion, has been appointed the first holder of the Jennie Carlisle Golding Chair in Philosophy, and Dr. Greg Miller, professor of English, has been appointed the first holder of the Janice Trimble Chair in English.

"In their careers at Millsaps, Steve and Greg have complied remarkable records of achievement as teachers, scholars, and leaders," said Dr. David C. Davis, interim vice president and dean of the College. "They have consistently exceeded the high standards the College sets for full professors and not surprisingly have earned many commendations in teaching, scholarship, and service."

The chairs are intended to recognize and reward faculty members in the Department of Philosophy and the Department of English who are full professors and who have consistently exceeded the standards of full professors. Those standards include  outstanding teaching; distinguished faculty leadership and devoted service to students, the faculty and the College and mature scholarship in the individual's subject area or widely acclaimed accomplishments in the creative arts. Appointment to each chair is for a five-year renewable term.

Smith, the author of five books, received the Mississippi Humanities Council Teacher Award in 2003 and the Millsaps Distinguished Professor of the Year Award in 1994. He has served as chair of both the religious studies and philosophy departments and director of the Heritage Program.

Smith has a doctorate in religion from Duke University, a master's degree in religion from Vanderbilt University, and a bachelor's degree in religion from Florida State University.

Miller, the author of five books, has been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award for his collections of poetry in Rib Cage and Iron Wheel. Miller's poems have appeared in The Paris Review, The Chicago Review, Open City, Tikkun and other journals.

Miller has been a writing fellow at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, the Yaddo and MacDowell Colonies in the United States and at the Camargo Foundation and the CAMAC Centre d'Art in France.

He received the Millsaps Distinguished Professor of the Year Award in 2002, the Mississippi Humanities Council Teacher of the Year Award in 1998, and the Mississippi Professor of the Year awarded by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in 2003.  He has served as chair of the English department and president of the Faculty Council and the Southern Literary Festival.

He received his doctorate in English from the University of California at Berkeley, his master's in English and creative writing from Stanford University and his bachelor's in French literature and political science from Vanderbilt University.