James English named John Welsh Centennial Professor of English
Professor English is the author of The Economy of Prestige: Prizes, Awards, and the Circulation of Cultural Value which was reviewed in more than 50 journals and was named the Best Academic Book of 2005 from the New York Magazine Culture Awards. In 1994 and 1999, he received research grants from the Research Foundation of University of Pennsylvania. Professor English was a George Watson Visiting Fellow at the University of Queensland from April-May, 2011.
From 1999 through 2005 he was the co-editor of Postmodern Culture, the first peer-reviewed all-electronic journal in the humanities. He was the chair of the English Department from 2004 to 2007 and directed the Penn English Program in London from 2007 to 2008. Additionally, Professor English served on the advisory board for the Euro Festival Project of Austria from 2009 to 2011 and chaired the MLA First Book Prize Jury from 2010 to 2011. He received his M.A. from the University of Chicago and his Ph.D. from Stanford.
The John Welsh Centennial Professorship in History and English Literature was created in 1877 and was one of the first three named professorships endowed at Penn. It honors John Welsh, a University trustee and U.S. Minister to Great Britain who is known for raising funds to stage Philadelphia’s Centennial Exposition of 1876.
