Bernice Hausman named Edward S. Diggs Professor in Humanities
Bernice Hausman, professor of English in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences at Virginia Tech, was recently named Edward S. Diggs Professor in Humanities by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors.
The Edward S. Diggs Professorship in Humanities recognizes and promotes excellence in research and teaching in the humanities. It was created through an estate gift by Hattie Wilson Diggs in memory of her husband, who earned his bachelor’s degree in agriculture in from Virginia Tech in 1914. Recipients hold the position for a five-year term.
A member of the Virginia Tech faculty since 1995, Hausman is an accomplished scholar across fields, including medical rhetoric, gender studies, and public humanities. Her research demonstrates the significant contributions of the humanities to public health.
Her scholarly activities have been funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities; the National Writing Project; the Virginia Department of Health; and the Institute for Society, Culture, and Environment at Virginia Tech.
Her research record includes three books on gender and culture, 15 articles in peer-reviewed journals, five chapters in books, and more than 15 reviews. She has presented at more than 40 national and international conferences.
Hausman has advised numerous graduate students, and is a successful teacher of undergraduates. At Virginia Tech, she directed the women’s studies program from 2003 to 2005, coordinated the medicine and society minor since its inception in 2005, and was the acting director of the Center for the Study of Rhetoric in Society in Fall 2011.
Since 2010, she has been teaching courses for the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine where she is a professor in the Department of Interprofessionalism. She is a member of more than 10 doctoral committees, and her work with graduate students was recognized with the 2007 College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences Graduate Advising Award.
She is the coordinator of the Vaccination Research Group involving a team of graduate students and undergraduate researchers working on collaborative projects with a strong public humanities emphasis.
Hausman received her bachelor’s degree from Yale University and a master’s degree and doctoral degree from the University of Iowa.
