NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Jay Clayton, chair of the Department of English
at Vanderbilt University, has been appointed to an endowed chair as a
William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of English.
Clayton will deliver his inaugural address at 4 p.m. on Friday,
April 16. The topic will be "Crimes of the Genome: Literature and the
Gene for Violence." The lecture, in Room 126 of Wilson Hall, is free
and open to the public.
The lecture will be part of Arts and Science Day at Vanderbilt, an
annual event to highlight the scholarly activities taking place in
Vanderbilt’s largest school and draw attention to its wide-ranging
programs.
Clayton’s restless energy drives Vanderbilt’s flourishing English
program. In addition to his administrative duties, he teaches both
undergraduate and graduate courses and has written three acclaimed
books, the latest Charles Dickens in Cyberspace: The Afterlife of the
Nineteenth Century in Postmodern Culture. He is co-director of a
$100,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health, leading a
12-member team cataloging the use and misuse of genetics in literature,
film and popular culture.
Clayton says his lecture "will answer the question people always ask when they hear about the NIH grant.
"What in the world does literature have to do with genetics? I’ll
try and show how classic literary works like Brave New World or
Frankenstein play a role in shaping the attitudes of policy makers
toward science, and in particular genetics."
Clayton was a Guggenheim Fellow in 1999-2000, and has served three
times as a fellow at the Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities
at Vanderbilt.
"Jay Clayton has brought great energy and excitement to the position
of chair of the English department," said Richard C. McCarty, dean of
the Vanderbilt College of Arts and Science. "He is a distinguished
scholar, a highly regarded teacher and a tireless promoter of the
department and the University. Jay has dedicated a significant part of
his professional career to Vanderbilt University, and the awarding of
the Kenan Chair is a fitting tribute for his remarkable achievements as
a scholar."
In 1967, the William R. Kenan Jr. Charitable
Trust donated funds to Vanderbilt to establish a professorship honoring
Kenan, a chemical and mechanical engineering consultant associated with
Henry Flagler, one of the founders of Standard Oil. In 2003,
Kenan officials approved the naming of a second chair holder, to extend
the gift’s impact.
Clayton joins Cecelia Tichi as a holder of a Kenan chair at Vanderbilt.
"Receiving
the chair is a great honor," Clayton said. "It deeply gratifies me to
share this title with a scholar as accomplished as Professor Tichi."
Media contact: Jim Patterson, (615) 322-NEWS
Jim.patterson@vanderbilt.edu