April 1, 2003
BIRMINGHAM, AL — University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) English Professor William Hutchings, Ph.D., has been selected to receive the Eugene Current-Garcia Award for Distinction in Literary Scholarship, one of the state’s highest academic honors. Hutchings will be honored Friday, May 2, at a special ceremony during the Alabama Writers Symposium, which will be held May 1-3 in Monroeville.
The Eugene Current-Garcia Award recognizes and rewards a living, outstanding literary scholar from Alabama who has worked primary in Alabama, or has focused primarily on Alabama writers. Award winners are selected by the Association of College English Teachers of Alabama, an organization representing faculty from Alabama’s two- and four-year colleges and universities. The award includes a $5,000 cash prize and an original Frank Fleming bronze.
“It is considered the most prestigious award for English literary scholarship given in Alabama by a statewide educational organization,” said Marilyn Kurata, Ph.D., chair of the UAB Department of English. “It’s a great honor that this recognition has been awarded to Dr. Hutchings, and by extension, it is a recognition of the excellence to be found within UAB’s Department of English.”
Hutchings, a native of Lexington, Kentucky, is the first UAB faculty member to receive the Eugene Current-Garcia Award.
“I am tremendously honored to have been selected to receive the Current-Garcia award,” Hutchings said, “and I am especially gratified to find myself included among its very distinguished previous recipients, whose work I very much admire.”
Hutchings specializes in 20th century British fiction and modern British and European dramas. His books include The Plays of David Story: A Thematic Study, and David Storey: A Casebook.
Hutchings has published more than 90 essays, articles and reviews on Samuel Beckett, James Joyce and Alan Sillitoe, among others. He is writing a research guide to Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot that will be published by Greenwood Press. Hutchings has given more than 30 presentations at national and international conferences, including the International James Joyce Symposia in London, Venice and Rome. He also is a frequent lecturer at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival’s “Theatre in the Mind” lecture series, the UAB Department of English Book Talk series and the UAB New Horizons lecture series.
Hutchings earned his bachelor’s degree from Transylvania University and his master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Kentucky. He has taught at UAB since 1981.
The Eugene Current-Garcia Award is presented annually at the Alabama Writers Symposium, which is hosted by Alabama Southern Community College in Monroeville. The award is named after Auburn University Professor Eugene Current-Garcia, the founder and co-editor of the Southern Humanities Review.