Kudos

Presidential Research Professor William Baker published an in-depth, two-page article on George Eliot, the pen name for Victorian writer Mary Ann Evans, in the Dec. 3 issue of the Times Literary Supplement (TLS).

The TLS is a prestigious weekly literary review published in London. Over the past century, the review has featured such distinguished contributors as Henry James and Virginia Woolf.

Baker’s article describes, comments and transcribes previously unpublished notes of Eliot dealing with 15th century Spain and the Inquisition. Eliot transformed the material creatively in her poem “The Spanish Gypsy” (1868) and in her last completed novel “Daniel Deronda” (1876). Baker discovered the notes at Princeton University Library.

Holding a joint appointment the NIU Department of English and University Libraries, Baker is considered the foremost bibliographer and a leading scholar on the works of Eliot. She was among the most important British novelists of the 19th century.

Distinguished Research Professor Thomas Rossing has been elected a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), “for contributions to engineering education, acoustics and magnetic devices.” Each year the IEEE Fellow Committee recommends a select group of recipients for one of the Institute’s most prestigious honors, election to IEEE fellow.

Rossing, professor emeritus in the NIU Department of Physics, has previously been elected to fellowship three other scientific societies, the American Physical Society, the Acoustical Society of America and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has received the Silver Medal in Musical Acoustics from the Acoustical Society of America, and the Millikan Medal from the American Association of Physics Teachers.

He will be a visiting professor at Stanford University during the winter quarter.

12-13-04