Daily Pioneer News

PLATTEVILLE - At the end of the fall 2006 semester, the faculty and full-time staff of the University of Wisconsin-Platteville humanities department recommended Stephanie Branson for chair, and Chancellor David Markee appointed her. She will serve as chair from January 2007 to May 2010.

The humanities department is made up of three programs - English, philosophy and foreign languages - and is one of the largest on campus with 38 faculty/academic staff members and two program assistants.

With 15 years as a professor of English in the department, Branson says she will, foremost, listen to colleagues and students as she reaches for three main goals: first, to find ways for faculty and staff in the department to work together toward common goals; second, to get faculty and staff thinking about the future of the department; and third, to promote humanities research within the department, for students and across campus.

To meet the first goal, Branson said she plans to listen carefully and attentively to what faculty and staff want for the department and its programs, and then build support for promising initiatives. In fulfilling the second goal, Branson will continue developing the film studies curriculum in the department, for example, as the search for a film studies professor progresses. She will also listen to new ideas for the future of the department and is interested in starting a planning committee to determine future directions. The third goal involves promoting humanities research as a legitimate means by which to gain knowledge that is useful within the discipline and across disciplines. Branson would hold forums to display humanities research and invite input from English majors. "We have a number of active scholars in the department who need a venue to present their research," Branson said.

Mittie Nimocks, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Education, commented, "The role of department chair is simultaneously one of the most crucial and most difficult roles on campus. I have worked with Branson for many years through faculty governance bodies and have observed her strong leadership skills on committees such as the Academic Planning Commission. She combines organization and planning with flexibility and understanding. She is logical and compassionate. I believe she will be a strong advocate for humanities faculty and staff, an honest and astute advisor to me and an effective liaison between faculty and administration. I look forward to working with her."

Branson returned to her teaching position at UWP in fall 2006 after two years as a Fulbright Scholar at the English Institute of the 300-year old University of Wroclaw in Poland. She taught American Literature and Culture there. She coordinated a comparative literature international conference on definitions of reality in Polish, English and American literature. Participants in the conference came from such places as Slovakia, Bulgaria and England. The proceedings of the conference will be published.

Branson also gave talks in England, Slovakia and Germany for Fulbright on subjects within her specialization: film, women's literature, feminist literary theory, comparative literature and literature of the occult. In the past, she has served as the director of the Women's Studies program at UWP and as an ESL and French instructor at Purdue University.

Contact: Mittie Nimocks, dean, College of Liberal Arts and Education, (608) 342-1151,nimocksm@uwplatt.edu Prepared by: April Schmidt, UWP Public Relations, (608) 342-1194, schmidap@uwplatt.edu