July 10-11, 2003

ITEM 120-1001-R0703  Authorization to Confer the Title of Professor Emeritus of English upon Gerry Brenner; The University of Montana-Missoula

THAT:  Gerry Brenner, Professor of English, in his 35 years of service to The University of Montana, has merited the appreciation and commendation of the Board of Regents of the Montana University System, and has earned recognition as Professor Emeritus of English.

EXPLANATION:  Professor Gerry Brenner earned his Ph.D. degree in 1965 from the University of Washington. Professor Brenner joined the English faculty at The University of Montana in 1968, rising rapidly to the rank of Professor in 1978. Professor Brenner over his career has consistently demonstrated an ideal balance among teaching, service, and scholarship. He is recognized by his colleagues in English and beyond as a dedicated teacher, guiding students at all levels from freshmen to master's candidates through rigorous courses devoted to close reading and a variety of interpretative strategies. He has specifically requested to teach freshmen students annually, and has evolved over the years a method and a textbook to guide beginning students toward greater self-consciousness about the methodology of interpretation. Drawing on his experience in professional editing, he has also devised a course in editing skills, and an internship in editing, successfully providing a bridge for many students between the world of liberal arts and the world of gainful employment.

Professor Brenner has served over the years on most of the major University committees, and has always taken an active role in governance at all levels from the Department to the University as a whole.

Professor Brenner has represented the University on three foreign exchanges to Yugoslavia, Australia, and Germany.

Professor Brenner has focused his scholarly work on Ernest Hemingway, publishing four books on this major figure of Twentieth-Century American Literature. He is recognized nationally and internationally for his work on Hemingway.

But his scholarly pursuits have not been narrowly focused, and he has also published on Fitzgerald, Frank O'Connor, John Updike, Alice Munro, Chekhov, Dashiel Hammett, Tony Morrison, Robert Browning, Mark Twain, Jane Austen, Shakespeare, Chaucer, and the Bible, as well as articles on pedagogy.

The English Department is honored to recommend Professor Gerry Brenner for Emeritus status.