OXFORD, Miss. – Gregory Schirmer, professor of English, has
been honored as this year’s top teacher at the University
of Mississippi.
Schirmer was presented the campuswide 2008 Elsie M. Hood
Outstanding Teacher Award Thursday evening at the
university’s 65th Honors Day Convocation. The ceremony also
included recognition of 46 students who were awarded Marcus
Elvis Taylor Memorial Medals, the university’s highest
academic award.
Announcing Schirmer as the Hood Award recipient, Chancellor
Robert Khayat said, “This year’s recipient has the good
fortune to teach a subject that can inspire any dedicated
student. For nearly 25 years, he has taught poetry and
literature at Ole Miss. He has opened many minds to the
world of great literature.”
Faculty, staff, students and alumni look forward to the
announcement of the outstanding teacher because the award
“recognizes excellence in the classroom and sensitivity to
the students’ needs,” Khayat said.
Schirmer said that he was both humbled and flattered by the
honor.
“I was, honestly, quite stunned when I was told I had won
this award,” Schirmer said. “The Hood Award is particularly
meaningful to me because the selection process depends so
heavily on student input. It’s very moving to think of
students that I’ve taught over the years taking the trouble
to write letters recommending me for it.”
In one Hood Award nomination letter for Schirmer, a student
commented, “(Schirmer) brings a passion to the classroom
that demands attention … (O)ne can tell he loves his
subject, and it is infectious.”
Schirmer, who joined the Ole Miss faculty in 1984, said,
“There are many, many fine teachers at this university
whose work is equally – if not more – deserving of this
kind of recognition. I would also like to note that this
university has been most generous in supporting my research
ever since I arrived.”
Before coming to UM, Schirmer taught at the University of
Notre Dame and Vanderbilt University.
A native of Freeport, Ill., he completed his doctoral
degree from Stanford University, where he also gained some
teaching experience while a graduate student. He earned his
bachelor’s degree at the University of Illinois and his
master’s in journalism at Columbia University. He worked
for eight years as a journalist, first at the Wall Street
Journal and then at Newsday. Schrimer earned a second
master’s degree in English from State University of New
York at Stony Brook before entering Stanford.
Schirmer, whose primary field of specialization is Irish
literature, has taught a variety of courses in this area,
several courses in British literature and two courses in
Shakespeare. His sixth book, “After the Irish: An Anthology
of Poetic Translation,” is slated for publication next year
by Cork University Press in Ireland.
He and his wife, Jane Mullen, an accomplished writer of
novels and short stories, are the parents of four
children.
The Outstanding Teacher Award has been a tradition at Ole
Miss since 1966. In 1988, Mr. and Mrs. Warren A. Hood Sr.
of Jackson made a gift to endow the award, and it was named
the Elsie M. Hood Outstanding Teacher Award in Mrs. Hood’s
honor. In 2000, the Hoods made another gift to support the
award so that it will continue in perpetuity.
For more information about the Department of English,
please call 662-915-7439 or go to