Professor of English George Hovis has been appointed to the prestigious rank of SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor.
Appointment constitutes a promotion to the State University of New York’s highest academic rank, and it is conferred solely by the SUNY Board of Trustees. Dr. Hovis’ appointment was approved by the SUNY Board of Trustees on April 11. In June, he will join other newly appointed Distinguished Teaching Professors in Albany for a celebratory dinner and induction ceremony, when he will receive a medallion.
Distinguished Faculty Rank programs "encourage ongoing commitment to excellence, kindle intellectual vibrancy, elevate the standards of instruction and enrich contributions to public service," according to SUNY.
Distinguished Teaching Professorship is conferred upon instructional faculty for outstanding teaching competence at the graduate, undergraduate, or professional levels. Teaching mastery is to be consistently demonstrated over multiple years at the institution where the Distinguished Teaching Professorship is bestowed.
Dr. Hovis earned a Ph.D. from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2001 and was a faculty member at Murray State University before coming in 2006 to SUNY Oneonta, where he has established himself as an outstanding instructor, scholar and creative writer who puts his students first. With his student-centered classroom environment and approach to education, he has impacted the lives of many.
His teaching and research interests lie in the areas of American literature, fiction writing, creative writing, and literature of the American South, especially as it addresses issues of race in America. This semester, he is teaching Modern American Fiction, Advanced Fiction Workshop, and Themes in Literature. In 2017, he was awarded the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching.
One of the foremost scholars of Thomas Wolfe, Dr. Hovis has served as President of the Thomas Wolfe Society (an international literary society) and currently serves as Distinguished Service Director of the Wolfe Society. In addition to his scholarly work, Dr. Hovis is a widely published, well-respected and award-winning creative writer with numerous published short stories and a novel, The Skin-Artist, which was nominated for the 2019 Sir Walter Raleigh Award. His short fiction and nonfiction have received multiple awards, as well.
Dr. Hovis has served the campus community extensively, including as chair of the English Department’s Red Dragon Reading Series, which has brought more than 100 writers to SUNY Oneonta. Above all, his extensive knowledge of the field and deep passion for his craft influences, inspires and motivates his students.