Paula Backscheider
Philpott/West Point Stevens Eminent Scholar – English
College of Liberal Arts

Paula R. Backscheider specializes in Restoration and 18th-century literature, feminist criticism, and cultural studies. The author of several books including Daniel Defoe: His Life (winner of the British Council Prize), Spectacular Politics, Reflections on Biography, andEighteenth-Century Women Poets and their Poetry: Inventing Agency, Inventing Genre (winner of the Modern Language Association Lowell Prize). Two of her books have been selected for the Choice Outstanding Academic Book award. She has published articles in , and many other journals. A former president of the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies, she has held ACLS, NEH, and Guggenheim Fellowships and is one of the few American members of the Institute for Advanced Studies, University of Edinburgh. An award-winning teacher, she is dedicated to discussion courses and creating an atmosphere in which students can be themselves and feel free to take risks.

Geoffrey Hill
Professor – Biological Sciences
College of Sciences and Mathematics

Auburn was the location of Geoffrey Hill's first faculty position. He says that Auburn has given him everything he needs to develop his career to his potential, and he has never considered moving to another university. Hill teaches undergraduate ornithology and evolution and systematics, as well as graduate ornithology and advanced concepts in evolution. His research focuses on the function and evolution of ornamental traits in birds and on the ecology and conservation of birds in the Southeast. Hill says his proudest academic accomplishments include having the first chapter of his dissertation published as a single-authored paper in the journal, Nature, and receiving the Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering, which is one of the highest honors a young U.S. scientist can receive. Hill's favorite place on campus is the Old Rotation fields, where he and his students conduct research on eastern bluebirds and house finches.