Assistant Professor Amrita Dhar was named the 2019 recipient of the Milton Society of America’s Albert C. Labriola award. The award recognizes a distinguished article written by a graduate student about John Milton that was published or is forthcoming in a journal or multi-author essay collection. Dhar’s article, entitled “Toward Blind Language: John Milton Writing, 1648-1656, was published in Milton Studies, the premier academic journal for Milton scholarship.

Dhar has also been awarded a Huntington Fellowship in autumn 2020 to do research in the Library’s to extend her book project on sight and blindness in early modern literature.

Associate Professor Rob Hughes was awarded the Ohio State Newark Teaching Excellence award for tenured faculty. As one of his student recommenders wrote, “I must admit, my first opinion was that it was going to be a long, dreadful class. But thanks, to Dr. Hughes, I have a love affair with reading. I never would have imagined that. I only read because I had to. Now, I am actually looking forward to reading FOR FUN. I wish there were more people in this world, like him. He has a knowledge that he wants to share, a passion for his subject and his students and a sense of humor.”

Professor Elizabeth Weiser was awarded the Ohio State Newark Service award for tenured faculty. Weiser’s service, in addition to this website and coordination of the professional writing minor, includes two consecutive years as Secretary to the Faculty Assembly, service on multiple faculty committees, including founding one and chairing several, serving as a mentor to STEP, EXP class, and Digital Flagship cohorts, work as the campus liaison to the University Institute for Teaching & Learning, service on two international boards of directors, and management of multiple grants awarded to local community organizations.

Senior Lecturer Don Langford retired this spring after 21 years of teaching on our campus. As he wrote, “Now it is time for me to step away from the fast-paced life I have been leading for more than five decades and return to my love of the wilderness, art, and the creative interactions that I remember experiencing in my teens and twenties…[preparing] for the later exploration of the national parks, hot springs, and other natural wonders of this continent and beyond.”