Booth Named Seibold Professor at UW

Jan. 16, 1998 -- Mark W. Booth, University of Wyoming associate dean and professor of English, is the recipient of the 1998 Seibold Professorship in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Established by the late Clarence Seibold of Cheyenne, the annual award is given to tenured UW faculty members in social sciences, humanities or fine arts who have a demonstrated commitment to teaching. Seibold Professors are provided one year's salaried leave to pursue studies or develop projects that will enhance their teaching performance and professional careers. The bequest provides the recipient's department with funds to replace the faculty member or to meet other departmental needs.

Janet Constantinides, professor and head of UW's English department, says although Booth's work as associate dean has no teaching assignments, he has continued to teach UW courses at all levels from freshman to graduate students.

"Mark has done this in part to help the department, but there is another reason. He is a dedicated teacher," Constantinides says. "He couldn't stay away from the classroom. Teaching for him is not just the passing of knowledge to students; it is also a learning experience for the teacher."

Booth will use the Seibold Professorship for a year of study in England to research theoretical arguments for a book he is writing on poetry, his academic specialty.

"At the end of this academic year I will leave my administrative job and return full-time to faculty work," he says. "I want to return with all the effectiveness I can muster. I look on this project as a chance to improve my theoretical sophistication and to bring my teaching of literature courses into good dialogue with teaching elsewhere in the English curriculum."

Booth joined the UW College of Arts and Sciences faculty in 1987, serving as chairman of the UW Department of English from 1987-93, and as one of the college's associate deans since 1993. He received a B.A. degree (1965) from Rice University and M.A. (1966) and Ph.D. (1971) degrees from Harvard University.

The Seibold Professor is selected annually by a committee chaired by Anne Slater, professor emeritus of anthropology, and consisting of previous recipients Keith Hull, English; Herb Dieterich, history; Jean Owens Schaefer, art; Leigh Selting, theatre; Fred Homer and Larry Hubbell, both political science; and Richard Howey, philosophy.

Posted on Friday, January 16, 1998

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