Congratulations to Wayne Fields

I am pleased to tell you that Wayne Fields will be named the first holder of the Lynne Cooper Harvey Distinguished Chair in English. The installation ceremony will take place at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, December 2, in Holmes Lounge.

Wayne Fields earned his B.A. in literature from Augustana College in 1964, and his M.A. in 1965 and Ph.D. in 1972, both from the University of Chicago. He joined the Washington University faculty in 1968 as Instructor of English and was named Assistant Professor in 1971, Associate Professor in 1977, and Professor in 1991. He served as acting chair of the Department of English in 1987-88 and as chair from 1989 to 1992. He served as director of the Master of Liberal Arts Program from 1986 to 1992 and as Dean of University College in Arts & Sciences from 1992 to 1996. Along with professors Robert Salisbury and Gerald Early, Professor Fields helped develop the multi-disciplinary program in American Culture Studies and has served as director since 1996.

In addition to the leadership roles mentioned above, Professor Fields is a member of the Arts & Sciences Academic Planning Committee, serves on several search committees in Arts & Sciences, and was a member of the Task Force on Undergraduate Curriculum, which recently issued recommendations revising for the first time in over 20 years the Arts & Sciences undergraduate course of study. He also served on the Washington University Faculty Council from 1985 to 1988 and as a member of other committees too numerous to mention.

Professor Fields' research includes American literature, non-fiction prose, rhetoric, and American political argument. His books include James Fenimore Cooper: A Collection of Critical Essays (1979), the highly acclaimed What the River Knows: An Angler in Midstream (1990) - a non-fiction book that tells about fly-fishing and the mysteries of rivers, along with the uncertainties of life's second half - and The Past Leads a Life of Its Own (1992), which tells through a collection of related but not continuous chapters the story of an American boyhood. Union of Words: A History of Presidential Eloquence (1996) examines rhetoric in all manner of presidential speeches - from declarations of candidacy to acceptances of nomination, to inaugural addresses, to state-of-the-union speeches, to declarations of war and other special occasions, to executive farewells. As a result of the publication of this book, Professor Fields' opinions have been sought frequently by the national media to help interpret political speeches. In addition, he has served as political commentator for National Public Radio, Radio Free Europe, and varioustelevision and radio network programs, and for five years he wrote a regular column, "Close to Home," for St. Louis Magazine.

He was a fellow of the National Humanities Institute at Yale University in 1976-77, Fulbright-Hays Lecturer in American Literature at the University of Copenhagen in fall 1980, McGee Professor of Writing at Davidson College in spring 1990, and Lamont Visiting Professor of Literature at Union College in spring 1995.

Professor Fields has received several awards for teaching, including the Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching presented by the Council of Students of Arts & Sciences, a Founder's Day Faculty Award, the Burlington-Northern Teaching Award, a University College Teaching Award, and the Interfraternity Council Excellence in Teaching Award.

The Lynne Cooper Harvey Distinguished Chair in English was established in 1998 by a generous gift from Lynne "Angel" Cooper Harvey, who earned a bachelor's degree in 1934 and a master's degree in 1935, both in English, from Washington University. For more than 35 years, she has worked in close collaboration with her husband, Paul, as writer, editor, and producer on the highly successful Paul Harvey News and Comment show. One of the most listened-to radio broadcasts in history, this show is carried by nearly 1,500 ABC network affiliates and more than 400 stations abroad. In testimony to her influence on American radio, in 1997 Angel Harvey was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame at Chicago's Museum of Broadcast Communications. To honor her outstanding achievement, she was honored by Washington University with a Distinguished Alumni Award at Founders Day in 1997 and an honorary Doctor of Humanities degree at Commencement in 1998. Angel Harvey is a Life Patron of the William Greenleaf Eliot Society and also a generous supporter of the Arts & Sciences Scholarship Program.

Edward S. Macias
October 1999