NEWS

UNC Southern studies expert named Fellow of the American Folklore Society

Dr. William R. Ferris, a widely recognized leader in Southern studies, black music and folklore, based at UNC, has been named a fellow of the American Folklore Society for significant contributions to the field. He is professor of history and folklore and senior associate director of the Center for the Study of the American South.

Ferris, former chairman of the National Endowment of the Humanities, has written or edited 10 books and created 15 documentary films.

He co-edited the massive "Encyclopedia of Southern Culture" (UNC Press, 1989), which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. His other books include: "Ray Lum's Tales of Horses, Mules and Men" (1992), "Local Color" (1982, 1992), "Images of the South: Visits with Eudora Welty and Walker Evans" (1978), "Mississippi Black Folklore: A Research Bibliography and Discography" (1971) and "Blues from the Delta" (1970, 1978, 1988).

His films include "Mississippi Blues" (1983), which was featured at the Cannes Film Festival. A nationally acclaimed expert on blues music, Ferris has produced numerous sound recordings. He hosted a weekly blues program on Mississippi Public Radio for nearly a decade.

A native of Vicksburg, Miss., Ferris was the founding director of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi, where he taught for 18 years.

He has won many prestigious honors, including the Charles Frankel Prize in the Humanities from President Clinton, the American Library Association's Dartmouth Medal, the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Award, and the W.C. Handy Blues Award. In 1991, Rolling Stone magazine named him among the Top Ten Professors in the United States.

He joined the Carolina faculty this year.

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Photo URL: http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/faculty/ferris_william.jpg

Mathews honored for book

Dr. Donald G. Mathews, professor of history and American studies, was honored at the Southern Historical Association meeting in Baltimore Nov. 7 at panel discussion celebrating the 25th anniversary of his book, "Religion in the Old South" (University of Chicago Press, 1977). Scholars will analyze the impact of the book on the study of Southern history.

Mathews has authored or edited numerous publications, including three other books: "Sex Gender and the Politics of ERA: A State and the Nation" (1990), "Agitation for Freedom: The Abolitionists," (1971), and "Slavery and Methodism: a Chapter in American Morality 1780-1845," (1965).

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Timothy Quigg, lecturer and associate chair for administration and finance in computer science, has been appointed a member of the Society of Research Administrators International Distinguished Faculty. He was inducted last month as one of 12 distinguished faculty in the 400-member group.

Quigg was honored for his "internationally recognized expertise, excellence in developing and delivering professional development training, and many significant contributions to the profession of research administration," according to SRA International President Julie B. Cole.

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Dr. Royce W. Murray, Kenan professor of chemistry, was honored at the annual Ralph and Helen Oesper Banquet and Symposium in October at the University of Cincinnati, for his significant contributions to chemistry. He was recognized for advancing the invention of measurement tools and strategies and associated design of new molecular assemblies that give access to interesting chemical phenomena. Murray presented a lecture at the symposium on the special properties of tiny "nanoparticles" found in certain metals.

Murray is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

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Michael McFee, poet and Bowman and Gordan Gray Distinguished Professor of English, was the featured honoree of the 21st Annual Literary Festival at Emory & Henry College in Emory, Va. Other writers and scholars gave presentations on McFee’s work, and Chapel Hill poet Michael Chitwood interviewed him. The proceedings of the festival, including writings by McFee, will be published in an annual issue of The Iron Mountain Review.

McFee, a UNC graduate, has published six collections of poetry and won numerous awards, including the 2001 Roanoke-Chowan Award for Poetry from the N.C. Literary and Historical Association.

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Contact: Mike McFarland, (919) 962-8593