William Baker Named Presidential Research Professor

Those of us who have had the opportunity to spend time learning from the English department’s renowned faculty members already know firsthand and appreciate the knowledge and expertise they bring to us in and out of the classroom each and every day. But it is even more rewarding when our professors are recognized for their excellence on a university-wide level.

It is with great pride that we at The Reavis Newsletter announce Professor William Baker as a 2003 Presidential Research Professor. This prestigious title is given yearly to professors who have done significant research and received national or international recognition in their fields. After four years as a Presidential Research Professor, Baker will carry the title of Distinguished Research Professor and will be eligible to serve on the selection committee. Other English professors to earn this title have been Lucien Stryk and Sean Shesgreen.

Baker, educated in London, came to NIU in 1989 and has taught courses from undergraduate Shakespeare to graduate Bibliography and Methods of Research. His research has been primarily focused on Ninteenth- and Twentieth-Century British Literature, with a specific focus on primary materials. His published works include the first fully detailed descriptive bibliography of the writings of George Eliot, which, when published in 2002, received exceedingly favorable reviews. He has also published a two-volume collection of the letters of George Henry Lewes, extensive manuscripts of Sir Walter Scott, and a critical study of the published and unpublished work of playwright Harold Pinter. In 2002, Baker was awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) senior fellowship, which allowed him to further his research on the letters of Wilkie Collins, of which a two-volume collection will be published in 2005.

Despite the numerous awards and accolades Baker has already accumulated, he describes his receipt of the Presidential Research Professorship as “humbling. There are a lot of excellent, productive people [in the English department] who, in the past, probably haven’t been recognized as they should be. [Receiving the Presidental Research Professorship] is good for the Department, and it makes me think of how much more there is to achieve.”