Today@Sam Article
New Senior Research Scholar Named
Oct. 8, 2018
SHSU Media Contact: Brooke Carson
John Gruesser has been named senior research scholar at Sam Houston State University. Selected as the first senior research fellow, the two-year fellowship is intended to bring nationally recognized, high profile research to SHSU while also providing mentorships for the university community.
Serving previously as professor of English at Kean University in Union, New Jersey, Gruesser was chosen out of a pool of over 30 applicants from different academic backgrounds. 10 faculty members, representing a variety of academic departments, comprised the selection committee charged with reviewing applicants for the prestigious scholarship position.
While the fellowship originated as a senior research scientist appointment specifically in SHSU’s Texas Research Institute for Environmental Studies (TRIES), William Lutterschmidt, executive director of TRIES, decided to make the position open to all academic disciplines.
“This is a unique position where we invite a senior scholar with years of expertise in a particular area of scholarship and they are asked to bring their internationally recognized research and scholarship to Sam Houston State. It’s all in the spirit of generating collaboration within the university and to create research visibility,” Lutterschmidt said.
Gruesser’s field of expertise is African American literature and culture, and his current focus of research is a somewhat unknown Texan minister, activist, novelist, Sutton E. Griggs. Gruesser was recently awarded a grant by the American Council of Learned Societies Project Development for his book on Griggs, “Man on the Firing Line: The Literary Life of Sutton E. Griggs, 1872-1933.” The book contributes to the scholarship and offers a reassessment of late nineteenth and early twentieth century African American literature.
“I am embarking on something I have never done before, a literary biography on Texan native Sutton Griggs, a minister and novelist, an interesting combination, he also owned his own publishing company, in which he published four of his five novels at the turn of the twentieth century” Gruesser said.
As part of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences Faculty Colloquia Series, Gruesser will present his work on Oct. 10 at 4 p.m.
- END -
This page maintained by SHSU's Communications Office:
Director of Content Communications: Emily Binetti
Asst. Director Content & Social Media: Emilee White
Communications Manager: Mikah Boyd
Telephone: 936.294.1837
Communications Specialist: Campbell Atkins
Telephone: 936.294.2638