Humanities Professors Honored with Faculty Awards

Three College of Humanities faculty members are among the winners recently announced in this year’s CSUN Faculty Awards, annually presented in six categories by the university’s Faculty Senate. All full-time and part-time faculty are eligible and must be nominated for consideration.

English professor Martin Pousson won the Exceptional Creative Accomplishments Award, having recently been awarded a 2014 Creative Writing Fellowship in Prose from the National Endowment for the Arts. Pousson will be on sabbatical in fall 2014 to complete work on his new novel Black Sheep Boy, a coming-of-age story exploring themes of personal dislocation, family dysfunction, and disintegrating culture through the lens of a young gay man of half-Cajun, half-Creole heritage.

Wendy Yost won a Distinguished Teaching Award. Yost is a lecturer in the College of Humanities’ Queer Studies interdisciplinary minor and the College of Health and Human Development’s Recreation and Tourism Management department. A CSUN alumna with a longtime campus presence in both staff and faculty positions, Yost is much revered by students and colleagues alike.

English professor Charles Hatfield won the Preeminent Scholarly Publication Award in recognition of his scholarship in the field of comics and graphic novels. His most recent publication—Hand of Fire: The Comics Art of Jack Kirby—is an Eisner Award–winning academic examination of the influential comics artist who originated legendary characters like Captain America, the Fantastic Four, the Incredible Hulk, and the Mighty Thor. Hatfield's literature course on comics and graphic novels is a perennial favorite among students.

The Faculty Awards, which include cash prizes, are generously supported by the President’s Office, the University Foundation, and the Center for Community Service-Learning. They will be presented at the Honored Faculty Reception on May 21.

“The College of Humanities is proud of the work of our faculty, in their roles as both scholars and as teachers,” says Humanities dean Elizabeth Say. “The fact that the Preeminent Scholarly Publication Award, the Exceptional Creative Accomplishments Award, and a Distinguished Teaching Award are all going to members of College of Humanities faculty demonstrates, yet again, the excellence of those we work with.”