ATHENS, Ga.
– Nelson Hilton, head of the University
of Georgia English department, has
been named the new director of the university’s Center for Teaching and Learning.
Hilton, whose appointment was effective Jan. 1 and is
subject to approval by the University System Board of Regents, will succeed
William Jackson, who is retiring Feb. 1.
The Center for Teaching and Learning is the new name of the
department previously known as the Office of Instructional Support and
Development. The name change, effective
Jan. 1, was recommended in the report of UGA’s Task Force on General Education
and Student Learning, which also called for strengthening the office with
additional resources and focusing on “best practices” in teaching.
Hilton has been on UGA’s English faculty since 1979 and has
been department head since 2001. A
nationally recognized authority on the 18th century poet William Blake, he has
extensive experience in using technology for classroom instruction.
The Center for Teaching and Learning assists faculty with
development of instructional multimedia and with WebCT training and support.
The office also coordinates teaching assistant support and is one of three
units responsible for operation of the Student
Learning Center.
The director also serves as the university’s director of
extended education and coordinates off-campus and distance education programs.
Hilton’s appointment was announced by Del Dunn, vice
president for instruction. “I am
delighted that we were able to appoint a person of Dr. Hilton’s talent and
experience to this position,” Dunn said.
“He has worked extensively in instructional technology and comes from a
department with wide-ranging instruction responsibilities.”
Hilton has received three UGA learning technologies grants
to develop computer-based techniques for teaching English composition and other
courses. He has also received two
faculty research grants and two fellowships from UGA’s Center for the
Humanities and the Arts.
He has served on both the Campus Information Technology
Forum and the Instructional Advisory Committee.
He is a member of the executive committee of the South Atlantic
Association of Departments of English and was chair of the Graduate English
group for the South Atlantic Modern Language Association.
A former Fulbright Fellow in the United
Kingdom, Hilton is author of a book and
numerous articles, papers, reviews and other publications dealing with Blake
and other 18th century poets. He
received a teaching award from the American Society of Eighteenth-Century
Studies and has been the chair of three seminars sponsored by the society on
Blake and other poets.
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