Southern Miss English Professor Weinauer Receives Mississippi Humanities Council Award

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Hattiesburg – English professor Dr. Ellen Weinauer says teaching is her most important work at the University of Southern Mississippi, and her scholarly research fuels her efforts in the classroom.

The Mississippi Humanities Council (MHC) agrees, designating her as a recipient of a Mississippi Humanities Council Teacher Award for 2006. Weinauer will be officially honored by the MHC in Jackson in February.

Weinauer, who joined the Southern Miss faculty in 1994 and is a past recipient of the university’s excellence in teaching award, said it’s unusual to be recognized for both scholarship and teaching.

“It matters a great deal to be recognized for my teaching, because that’s where I do my most important work,” said Weinauer. “It’s unusual to see this kind of award because we tend to see teaching and research as separate aspects of our work, but the MHC award recognizes how these two things support each other. I wouldn’t be able to connect with students in the classroom without my scholarly work.”

Recipients of the award make a presentation on their scholarly work. Weinauer’s Nov. 30 public lecture on the university’s Hattiesburg campus will focus on her research on the interaction of two literary giants, Herman Melville and Nathaniel Hawthorne, concerning 19th century attitudes about race.

The lecture, titled “Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville and the Question of Race,” will be held at 4 p.m. in the International Education Building auditorium, followed by a reception. The event is sponsored by the MHC, Southern Miss Department of English, and the College of Arts and Letters.

Weinauer said the genesis of her lecture is evidence of how teaching and research go hand in hand. While teaching a graduate seminar on 19th-century literature and race, and a seminar on the works of Melville, she was writing an essay on Melville and Hawthorne for the Blackwell Companion to Herman Melville.

“The essay took shape during those two semesters,” Weinauer said. “I couldn’t have written it without teaching those two classes.”

Weinauer believes that the brief, yet intense communication between the two authors sheds light on how Melville viewed Hawthorne and his work. Scholars have studied the writers’ interaction but have rarely examined it through the lens of race. The private correspondence and public writings of Melville suggest that he finds Hawthorne too conservative on the issue, though Weinauer says “both writers struggle with it, there’s no question.” Melville’s ambivalence about Hawthorne will be the subject of Weinauer’s presentation.

Dr. Mike Mays, chair of the Southern Miss Department of English, said Weinauer is deserving of the MHC award for her exemplary work as scholar-teacher at Southern Miss. “Dr. Weinauer's ground-breaking research in 19th-century American literature and her innovative teaching practices go hand in hand, each extending and reinforcing the other,” Mays said. “We’re truly fortunate to have such an enthusiastic and inspiring colleague and professor serving the university community.”