Humanities duo named Dickson Emeriti Professors

English professor J. Hillis Miller (left) and history professor Keith L. Nelson (right) have been appointed Edward A. Dickson Emeriti Professors. The endowed professorships, established to honor former University of California Regent Edward A. Dickson, are awarded to retired faculty who “continue to make significant contributions in the areas of university service, teaching and research.” Miller, a well-known deconstructionist critic, is Distinguished Research Professor of English and comparative literature. He specializes in Victorian and modernist literature, with a keen interest in literary theory and in reading as a cultural act. The author of many essays and books, Miller taught at Johns Hopkins University and Yale University before coming to UC Irvine in 1986. A former president of the Modern Language Association, he is also a fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Nelson, who focuses his scholarship and teaching on European-American relations and the role of ideology in theory, is one of the founding faculty of UC Irvine. He has directed the Humanities Core Course, the Center for Global Peace & Conflict Studies, the Education Abroad Program and, since his retirement, the Program in Religious Studies. Dickson was a UC regent from 1913 to 1946, the longest tenure of any regent. In 1955, he presented the university with a gift endowment that enables each campus to make an annual $10,000 award to an emeritus professor in acknowledgement of that person’s high academic standing, noteworthy teaching and long-term service to the university. At UC Irvine, two recipients are customarily appointed for a three-year period.