Pitt Professors Win Prestigious Prize from MLA Peter Benjamin, Staff Writer

English… Pitt Professors Win Prestigious Prize from MLA Peter Benjamin, Staff Writer

English Department Associate Professors Jean Ferguson Carr and Stephen L. Carr and their co-author, University of Cincinnati Professor Lucille M. Schultz, received the Modern Language Association’s 26th annual Mina P. Shaughnessy Prize at a convention in Philadelphia on Dec. 28.

The three professors were recognized for their book “Archives of Instruction: Nineteenth-Century Rhetorics, Readers, and Composition Books in the United States.”

“It’s very nice to receive such recognition for this,” Stephen L. Carr said.

His wife is Jean Ferguson Carr, one of the co-authors of the book.

“It was a lot of fun working with my wife. We both brought different specialties to the table,” he said.

This is the second consecutive year Pitt faculty members have won the Shaughnessy Prize, making Pitt the only university to have won the award two years in a row in the prize’s history.

“That Pitt faculty members have won the prestigious Shaughnessy Prize two years in a row reflects our English department’s national reputation for excellence,” Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg said in a press release. “We are fortunate that Jean and Stephen have made Pitt their professional home, and we congratulate them for their outstanding work.”

College of General Studies receives new associate dean Jennifer Hoffman, Contributing Editor

Pitt’s College of General Studies is ringing in the new year with a new associate dean, Kelly Otter.

N. John Cooper, dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, appointed Otter to the position in mid-December.

Otter will work with senior Pitt administrators to manage CGS programs, curriculum, enrollment, advising and retention of adult and nontraditional students. She will also supervise the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, a branch of CGS offering noncredit courses to senior citizens, and the McCarl Center for Nontraditional Students, a center aiding adult students in the transition to college.

“We’re taking all of those characteristics and attributes [of adult and nontraditional students] into consideration as we’re looking at new programs to offer and how to offer them,” Otter said.

Otter has worked as assistant dean of academic programs for CGS since 2003 and will continue the position. During her time with CGS, she managed the planning, development and delivery of CGS degree programs and expanded the school’s curriculum. She has also had an active role in PittOnline, a distance-learning program offering interactive Web-based courses via CourseWeb.

This is a very exciting time for CGS because of the school’s realignment with the School of Arts and Sciences in August, Otter said. The merging has increased collaboration among other associate deans to broaden the goals of each.

Previously, Otter served as assistant dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at the College of New Rochelle and as associate director of the department of film, video and broadcasting in New York University’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies.

She and her husband, Rick Pieto, Pittsburgh native and professor of media studies for the department of communication and the film studies program, returned to the area to be closer to family.