A quartet of West Virginia University professors in history, philosophy and English are the 2007 recipients of the Riggle Fellowship for Humanities, the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences announced.

They are Dr. Joseph Hodge , Department of History; Dr. Beverly Hinton Lentz , Department of Philosophy; and Dr. Ryan Claycomb and Dr. Michael Germana , both from the Department of English.

The fellowship supports exceptional junior faculty members who are seeking tenure through innovative research, effective teaching and other creative endeavors.

Hodge is known for his research on how science, economics, culture and politics converged to play a collective role in the Colonial development of East Africa. Since his arrival at WVU two years ago, he has presented papers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the German Historical Institute and Agricultural Historical Institute.

Hes the author ofTriumph of the Expert: Agrarian Doctrines of Development and the Legacies of British Colonialism,which was published in February of this year.

Hodge has also researched land use in Colonial and present-day South Africa with WVU colleague Brent McCusker of the Department of Geography.

Research for his current project,From Colonial Experts to Postcolonial Consultants,is being conducted in the United Kingdom.

He earned a BA in history from the University of Waterloo in 1990; an MA in sociology and international development studies from the University of Guelph in 1993; and a Ph.D. in history from Queens University at Kingston in 1999. All three schools are in Ontario, Canada.

Lentz is a prolific writer and researcher who has published seven articles in academic journals ranging fromAncient PhilosophytoLocke Studies.

A current paper,On Matter and Two Models of Change in Aristotles Physics,has been accepted for presentation at the 2007 Pacific Division Meeting of the American Philosophical Association, which is being held this month.

She also presentedThe Dilemma of Change and the Kata Sumbebekos Locution in Aristotleto the Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy in October 2006. Shes presently at work on two new papers,The Subject Criterion in Metaphysics Z3andOn Spontaneity and Teleology.

Lentz earned a BA in philosophy with a minor in classics in Greek from San Diego State University in 1983; an MA in philosophy from the University of California, San Diego in 1987; and a Ph.D. in philosophy from Marquette University in 1997.

She joined WVU as a visiting professor in 1999.

Claycombs writing bridges everything from politics to performance.

Since joining WVU in 2005, he has contributed pieces to trade publications fromTheatre JournalandPolitics and Culture.He has also presented papers at conferences in Philadelphia, Washington and Los Angeles.

His three most recent articles are also under contract to be published:Towards a Parodic Spectator: Metatheatre and Staged Feminist Retellings;Staging Psychic Excess: Parodic Narrative and Transgressive PerformanceandCurtain Up: Disrupted,

Disguised and Delayed Beginnings in Theatre and Dramawill all appear in trade publications later this year and next.

Claycomb is also co-editing the studyWriting Against the Curriculum: Anti-Disciplinarity in the Writing and Cultural Studies Classroom. Hes currently at work on a new bookPlaying at Lives: Life Writing and Contemporary Feminist Drama.

He earned a BA in literature from American University in 1995; and an MA and Ph.D. in English language and literature in 1998 and 2004 from the University of Maryland at College Park.

Germana is known both for his work at the computer keyboard and in the classroom. He joined WVU last year and immediately began teaching American Literature II, Popular American Literature and Introduction to American Studieson top of his own writing and research.

Over the past six months, hes presented papers at major literary gatherings, including the recent Biennial Conference of the Constance Fenimore Woolson Society. Another piece,Honore Gradissime,is slated to appear in the reference bookStudents Companion to American Literary Characters.

Another manuscript,Middlebrow-ing the Holocaust: Bernhard Schlinks �€~The Readerand Oprahs Book Club,is also under consideration. Hes presently researching the role U.S. monetary policy played in pre-Civil War minstrel performances for that books final chapter.

He earned bachelors and masters degrees in English from Virginia Tech University in 1999 and 2000; and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Iowa in 2006.

For more information on the Riggle Fellowship and this years recipients, contact Dr. Fred King, Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies, at Fred.King@mail.wvu.edu or 304-293-4611.