English professor George Hovis has been appointed a SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor — the State University of New York’s highest academic rank.

Hovis’ designation was approved by the SUNY Board of Trustees in April. In June, he joined other newly appointed Distinguished Teaching Professors in Albany for a celebratory dinner and induction ceremony, during which he received a medallion.

Distinguished Faculty Rank programs “encourage ongoing commitment to excellence, kindle intellectual vibrancy, elevate the standards of instruction, and enrich contributions to public service,” according to SUNY.

The Distinguished Teaching Professorship is conferred upon instructional faculty for outstanding teaching competence at the undergraduate, graduate, or professional levels. Teaching mastery is to be consistently demonstrated over multiple years at the institution where the Distinguished Teaching Professorship is bestowed.

Hovis earned a PhD at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2001 and was a faculty member at Murray State University before joining SUNY Oneonta in 2006. He has established himself as an outstanding instructor, scholar, and creative writer who impacted the lives of many through his student-centered classroom environment and approach to education.

His teaching and research interests are American literature, fiction writing, creative writing, and literature of the American South, especially as it addresses issues of race in America.

In 2017, he received the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching.

One of the foremost scholars of Thomas Wolfe, Hovis has served as president of the Thomas Wolfe Society (an international literary society) and currently serves as Distinguished Service Director of the Wolfe Society. In addition to his scholarly work, Hovis is an award-winning creative writer with numerous published short stories and a novel, The Skin-Artist (Sfk Press, 2019), which was nominated for the 2019 Sir Walter Raleigh Award. His short fiction and nonfiction have received multiple awards.

Hovis has served the campus community extensively, including as chair of the English department’s Red Dragon Reading Series, which has brought over 100 writers to SUNY Oneonta. Above all, his extensive knowledge of the field and deep passion for his craft influence, inspire, and motivate his students.

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