Eric Smith, a professor of English at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, has been presented the 2024 Eugene Current-Garcia Award for Distinction in Literary Scholarship by the Association of College English Teachers of Alabama.
“I am delighted and honored to be named this year’s recipient of the Eugene Current-Garcia Award for Distinguished Scholarship and to join the roster of esteemed awardees, a list that includes such luminaries as Trudier Harris and David Cowart,” Smith said. “As a native of rural northeast Alabama, a first-generation college student and the first winner to represent the University of Alabama in Huntsville, I am especially pleased.”
Smith has taught English at UAH since 2006. Prior to that, he taught at Athens State University and he University of Southern Mississippi. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Florida, a master’s from Mississippi State University and a bachelor’s degree from Athens State University.
“Dr. Smith is one of the hardest working academics I know and a verifiable triple threat,” said Chad Thomas, chair of the UAH Department of English. “He has had a phenomenal record as a researcher with the recently published monograph ‘Postcolonial Naturalism’ as the latest accomplishment in a prestigious career.”
Thomas added the Smith has served as director of the UAH Humanities Center for eight years and soon will be named director of Justice and Equity Studies.