I’m an English professor, and came to UVa a little over 30 years ago from positions at Michigan and Northwestern. I went to Amherst as an undergraduate, and remain ineradicably committed to the American liberal-arts ideal of the generally educated, critically thoughtful citizen. In fact that’s one of the things that attracts me about Brown College: the mix of majors and schools, the opportunity for informed and wide-ranging conversation. I’m politically active on progressive issues with deeper roots than electoral campaigns often express (though I’m convinced they flourish from such roots). I play the cello very amateurishly, having played a lot of folk and rock music in my undergraduate days. With my wife Betsy, a theatre director and also a Brown faculty fellow, I’ve more than once taken BC students to see local productions. I’m hard of hearing, so speak up!