Phillips named Outstanding Humanist

Longtime professor of English Robert L. Phillips is being named Outstanding Humanist for Mississippi State.

The award is made by the university in cooperation with the Mississippi Humanities Council. As part of the honor, Phillips presents a 3 p.m. public lecture Oct. 22 in 12 Allen Hall.

A specialist in Southern literature, he will speak about the art of North Carolina writer Fred Chappell, author of books of poetry that include "The World Between the Eyes," "Midquest," "Source," and others. Chappell also is the author of six novels.

Phillips' lecture, "Fred Chappell and the Agrarians," poses the questions, "What makes a poet Southern?" and "Is the South a place for verse?"

He began teaching at Mississippi State in 1970. His involvement with the Mississippi Humanities Council, then known as the Mississippi Committee for the Humanities, dates from that time.

He served as project director, with Joseph E. Stockwell Jr., for the "Mississippi Writers in Context," a program funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities for the Mississippi Library Commission. As part of that effort, he planned and co-edited a six-segment television series, "Climate for Genius," hosted by actress Cicely Tyson.

Phillips is the author of "Shelby Foote: Novelist and Historian" and is co-author of a book on late 19th century novelist Richard Harding Davis.

He was managing editor and project director for "The History of Southern Literature," published with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities by the Louisiana State University Press. He also serves as editor of the literary journal The Mississippi Quarterly.

Phillips received his bachelor's degree from Davidson College and his doctorate from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.