Leslie Kurke appointed to named chair

April 29, 2011

Leslie Kurke, who has previously been honored with appointment as the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Distinguished Professor in the Arts and Humanities (an endowed chair awarded to a different distinguished recipient every five years), has now been selected for the permanent honor of the Gladys Rehard Wood Chair.

The Gladys Rehard Wood Chair was previously held by Erich Gruen, now Professor emeritus of History and Classics. The donor specified that this chair should be awarded with a preference for English or Classics. After considering possible candidates, a campus-appointed committee chose Kurke as the new incumbent.

Among many previous honors awarded to Kurke are a MacArthur Fellowship and selection as Faculty Research Lecturer. Her most recent book is Aesopic Conversations: Popular Tradition, Cultural Dialogue, and the Invention of Greek Prose (Princeton 2011), a massively learned and innovative study of the Aesopic tradition, wisdom traditions, and the genres of Greek prose writing.