Christine Worobec, William Baker win
2003 Presidential Research Professorships

by Tom Parisi

Two NIU faculty members whose research and books have garnered international attention have been named as the 2003 Presidential Research Professors.

President John Peters will formally recognize history professor Christine Worobec and professor William Baker, who holds a joint appointment with University Libraries and the Department of English, at the first-ever Convocation for Academic Excellence. The event will be held at 5 p.m. Sunday, April 13, in the Duke Ellington Ballroom of the Holmes Student Center.

Given out annually since 1982, the Presidential Research Professorship is the university's top recognition for outstanding research.

Worobec, who also serves as director of undergraduate studies in history, has pioneered the study of peasants and women in Russia and Ukraine. Baker is recognized as one of the most important forces in Victorian scholarship.

"Christine Worobec and William Baker couldn't be more deserving of the Presidential Research Professorship," Provost Ivan Legg said. "They are trailblazers who have made major worldwide contributions in their respective areas of study. In their travels, they are model representatives of NIU, and here on campus, they are known to be generous with their time and talents. They exemplify the essential interconnection between research and teaching. It's not only students who benefit from their work, but colleagues as well."

The new Convocation for Academic Excellence will honor faculty members and students. In addition to Baker and Worobec, the event will recognize this year's Presidential Teaching Professors, Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award winners, NIU Honors Program students and distinguished graduate students.

Presidential Research Professors receive special financial support of their research for four years, after which they carry the title of Distinguished Research Professor. (Click here for a complete list of past winners.) Here's a closer look at this year's award recipients.

Book sleuth

Professor William Baker isn't one to judge a book solely by its cover - or its plot, its characters or even its bookbinding. He traces book origins back to first publications, rough drafts, letters and notes, and ultimately to the author's first glimmers of creativity.

"I love to study the way a book is formed, the notion of first editions, how the book and the book idea come together," Baker says. "You can't establish content and context until you've done that."

Baker's research has gained international acclaim in four areas: descriptive bibliographies that trace and describe the history of the book from its genesis to published formats; reconstruction of authors' libraries and the whereabouts of their books; interpretation of contemporary British drama, and literary discovery, including editing authors' letters. In the discovery category, this London native is as tenacious as a Scotland Yard detective. His super-sleuthing has recovered the forgotten notes, notebooks, letters and manuscripts of some of Britain's most famous Victorian writers.

Among Baker's most significant finds: A library containing manuscripts of British writers Sir Walter Scott and George Eliot. The manuscripts once belonged to the novelist Sir Hugh Walpole, who donated his collections to his alma mater, the Kings School, Canterbury. The forgotten collection was collecting dust at the private boarding school near London.

"I was spending a year in Canterbury," Baker said. "I happened to look at a biography of Sir Hugh Walpole, and in back was a listing of his library. It piqued my curiosity, especially when a senior colleague of his later told me, 'There are wonderful things untouched at the Kings School.' "

Baker holds a Ph.D. in English Studies from London University and a master's in library science from Loughborough University. He has been teaching at NIU for nearly 15 years. "Bill Baker is a prolific scholar," English chair Heather Hardy said. "My colleagues and I in the Department of English are pleased that his contributions are being recognized. He is most deserving."

Added Arthur Young, dean of NIU University Libraries, "Bill epitomizes the scholarly ideal, engaging in all facets of humanistic research."

Baker has published more than two dozen books and in excess of 125 articles. He is considered the foremost biographer and a leading scholar on the works of George Eliot, the pen name for Victorian writer Mary Ann Evans. She was among the most important British novelists of the 19th century. Baker's most recent book on her, "George Eliot: A Bibliographical History," was published just last year and culminated 35 years of research. None other than the London Times Literary Supplement sang the book's praises.

The professor also edits and contributes to "The Year's Work in English Studies" (Oxford University Press), a prestigious annual review of scholarly work on the English language and its literatures.

He is an elected council member of the Bibliographical Society of America, and he has been the recipient of numerous fellowships, grants and honors. Last year, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) awarded Baker with a Research Fellowship to continue his work on the letters of Wilkie Collins, a popular 19th century British writer who helped invent the detective novel. Baker's 1999 edition of Collins' letters won the Choice magazine Book of the Year Award.

Baker lives in DeKalb. He serves as a representative on the NIU Faculty Senate and on numerous committees. The courses he teaches include bibliographical methods of research and Shakespeare, which he calls "his great love." Not coincidentally, Baker is writing a book on the Bard, but he isn't revealing details. "I'm too superstitious," he says.

Finding a voice

It's not the rich and famous who fascinate Russian historian Christine Worobec, but rather ordinary people.

Worobec's research explores the extraordinary history of Russia's common folk in the 18th and 19th centuries. "I've focused on members of Russian society who we would consider to be voiceless," she says. "People of wealth and power generated a trail of documents for historians to follow, but if we look only at the elite, we miss cultural trends and a great deal of important historical material."

Worobec's pioneering work on women, folklore, peasants, family, religion and social life in tsarist Russia and Ukraine has won international praise. She is a frequent invited speaker, has penned numerous articles and book chapters, and has authored four books. Two of those books won the prestigious Heldt Prize, presented for the book of the year in Slavic, East European or Eurasian women's studies.

Worobec's explorations have taken her to such places as Helsinki, St. Petersburg and Moscow. And her work has delved into topics ranging from courtship and inheritance practices to demon possession and sainthood.

The most recent Heldt Prize winner - "Possessed: Women, Witches, and Demons in Imperial Russia" (NIU Press, 2001) - examined the cultural phenomenon of shrieking. Believed to be possessed by devils, female shriekers screamed and convulsed, sometimes losing consciousness, Worobec said.

She noted that Russian culture was steeped in religious tradition before the rise of communism, and religion has experienced a great resurgence since the Soviet Union's 1991 collapse. "There was a sense that if you didn't know what a church service was like, you needed to rush out to attend one," she said.

The demise of communism in Russia also opened research opportunities for western scholars.

"It became much easier to access archival materials, but we're never sure how long the window will remain open," Worobec explained. "Research in Russia remains problematic because foreigners are limited in the number of archival materials they can order. Also, the archives are scattered across the country and sometimes in poor condition. The roof is collapsing on the building that houses the main historical archive in St. Petersburg."

Worobec is fluent in Russian and reads French, German and Ukrainian. She earned her Ph.D. in history from the University of Toronto, later spent seven years at Kent State University and already had a growing reputation when she was recruited to NIU in 1999. In addition to teaching courses on Imperial Russia, the Russian Revolution and Women in Modern Europe, she serves as undergraduate adviser to more than 400 history majors.

"I think I'm a much better instructor because of my research," Worobec said. "I can bring materials into the classroom that students are not going to see in the texts, making for a richer learning experience. And because of my particular interests, I always incorporate the roles of women in history, which most texts ignore."

History chair George Spencer said Worobec is the only faculty member he ever has nominated for the Presidential Research Professorship. "She's an outstanding scholar, a wonderful teacher and a great colleague who gives 200 percent for everything," he said.

Worobec is planning to undertake a major project on the history of Russian pilgrimages and is under contract to write a biography of canonized saint Seraphim of Sarov.

Her first editor is always her husband, NIU professor David Kyvig, an expert in 20th century American history. The couple live in DeKalb and hold the distinction of being the only husband and wife to each win the Presidential Research Professorship. Kyvig received the award in 2000.

2-24-2003