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  April 17, 2006
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campus newS

English professor, poet, novelist Judith Ortiz Cofer is named Regents’ Professor

By Kim Cretors
kcretors@franklin.uga.edu
Judith Ortiz Cofer has another honor to add to a long and growing list:  Regents’ Professor. Cofer, a critically acclaimed and widely published poet, novelist, essayist and professor in the English department, is only the second woman to be named a Regents’ Professor at UGA.

Judith Ortiz Cofer
“I am grateful to the board of regents for this very special honor,” says Cofer. “I also wish to thank the University of Georgia’s special professorships committee and everyone involved in recommending and approving my appointment as a Regents’ Professor. I am encouraged in my work as a teacher and a writer by this recognition.”

Regents’ Professorships are granted by the University System of Georgia Board of Regents to outstanding faculty members for an initial period of three years and are renewable for a second three-year period based on recommendations. Awardees receive a $10,000 permanent salary increase, in addition to the merit raise, in the year of initial appointment. They also receive a yearly fund of $5,000 in support of their scholarship.

“Judith Ortiz Cofer’s appointment as Regents’ Professor is yet another sign of the quality and importance of her work as both a teacher and a writer,” says Garnett S. Stokes, dean of the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. “I am delighted to congratulate her on this addition to her list of accomplishments.”

Cofer has been a faculty member at UGA since 1984 and is currently a professor of English and creative writing. She also holds the title of Franklin Professor, a professorship established to honor “versatile and long-term contributors to the success of the Franklin College,” according to Wyatt Anderson, former dean of the college.

Cofer has been an inspiration to countless students throughout her career at UGA, according to the students themselves. One student says Cofer “always asks the one insightful question that makes you re-think and improve what you’ve written. She’s the reason I’m doing my Ph.D. here.” Another says Cofer’s teaching style is “rich with methods, prompts and incisive criticism, but her most valuable asset as a teacher is her own passion and discipline as a writer.”

Cofer has taught many courses at UGA over the years, including an Honors course in composition and literature that introduces students to the diversity of writers in American literature today, and courses on multicultural American literature and the literature of women.
 


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