Distinguished Teaching Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching and Mentoring

Plaque being received in commencement attire

Dr. Noell Wilson (left) and Dr. Annette Kluck (right) with Kathy Neff as she receives the plaque recognizing the awarding of the Distinguished Teaching Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching and Mentoring in memoriam, awarded to her late husband, Dr. John Neff.

In the Graduate School at the University of Mississippi, we believe an excellent graduate education requires students to have outstanding faculty for guidance and support. The Distinguished Teaching Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching and Mentoring was established in 2013, and the award recognizes graduate faculty members who influence graduate students through research, practice, and other areas of study. A positive influence on students in the classroom and research field can go a long way in school and after, when it is time to pursue a full-time career. The University of Mississippi prides itself on having the best graduate faculty, capable to mold the minds of students into professionals to prepare them for life after graduation.

During the 2020 Doctoral Hooding Ceremony this year, we posthumously recognized Dr. John Neff, Associate Professor of History and Director of the Center for Civil War Research, with the Distinguished Teaching Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching and Mentoring in memoriam. The Center for Civil War Research was established in the spring of 2009 with the goal to enhance understanding of the American Civil War. During Neff’s directorship, the Center also emphasized the relationship between Mississippi’s history and that of other states to facilitate a more comprehensive picture of the Civil War in the south. To fulfill its mission to enhance knowledge of the state’s history, the center regularly hosts conferences and other programs, providing opportunities to connect our campus and the research of our graduate faculty and students with the public.

Neff’s contributions to graduate education in the history department are remarkable. As the chair, Dr. Noell Wilson, stated during the ceremony, “His contributions to mentoring both master’s and doctoral students transformed our [History] Department.” After he arrived, the department saw a significant shift in the number of graduate students specializing in early American history. In addition, Neff directed fourteen completed dissertations (including three as a co-director) and was directing/co-directing several more dissertations at the time of his death in January of 2020.

Neff’s commitment to his students was immense and his absence is felt in the department. One just has to ask any of his former students…he was the epitome of a mentor whose contributions to students will go on as his graduates mentor their own students. As one of his graduates, Dr. Amy Laurel Fluker, shared with the selection committee, “I am the person, the scholar, and the teacher I am today because of him.”

The Dean of the Graduate School, Dr. Annette Kluck, noted that it was important to recognize the many ways Neff gave of his time to his graduate students. The ability to tell all of our graduates about this amazing mentor during the 2020 ceremony was one of the highlights of the graduation festivities this year.

Dr. Leigh Anne Duck

Dr. Leigh Anne Duck received the 2021 Distinguished Teaching Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching and Mentoring. Duck, who joined the faculty at the University of Mississippi in the fall term of 2010, is a professor in the English department. With a history of mentoring students, Duck continued to teach and support graduate students during the Covid-19 pandemic. She guided students through difficult challenges over the last year.

“Teaching and mentoring graduate students is always a pleasure, because it means working with others who share a deep interest in one’s subject matter,” said Duck. “I am especially fortunate, because the English Department here attracts exciting, dedicated students, many of whom are especially passionate about my subject area—the diverse stories and images produced in the literature and cinema of the US South.”

Duck edits and contributes to the journal The Global South. The focus of her published work is on representations of the Southern U.S. She has a current book project tentatively titled Extraction, Expression, and Hollywood South: Film on Location in Louisiana. Duck enjoys the unique opportunity that graduate school offers to cultivate wonderful scholars and coworkers in the English Department.

Duck shared: “Working with students from the Southern Studies MA and MFA sweetens the mix. In addition to helping students develop their own scholarship, I have been fortunate to work with them also as colleagues—not only as fantastic [teaching] assistants in the classroom, but also as editorial assistants for The Global South Journal…. I’m really an introvert, who came to this profession because I wanted to spend a lot of time with books, but working with graduate students reminds me that teamwork can be one of life’s great pleasures.”

Duck’s commitment to her students was clear during our 2021 ceremony. One of the co-nominators for the award was her most recent doctoral graduate, Dr. Amber Hodge. In fact, it was Hodge who, in the semester before completing her degree, contacted the chair of the department, Dr. Caroline Wigginton, about collaborating to nominate Duck for the award. As Kluck notes, “We do not always get to see our award recipients with one of the students who nominated them. The nomination process requires gathering a lot of information and it is telling that Dr. Duck’s most recent graduate took this on while completing a dissertation.”

The University of Mississippi is proud of professors like Dr. John Neff and Dr. Leigh Anne Duck who strive for greatness in mentoring of graduate students and whose legacy will impact the university for years to come.

Distinguished Teaching Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching and Mentoring

Newsletter Spring/Summer 2021 Articles