People
February 1, 2010
Foster receives top honor
Francis Smith Foster has received one of the top honors in her field: the ADE Francis Andrew March Award for exceptional service to the profession of English. Given by the Association of Departments of English, Foster was honored during the Modern Language Association’s annual convention in January.
The award, established in 1984, is named for Francis Andrew March (1823–1911), professor of English at Lafayette College and the first professor of English in America. The committee looks for candidates whose impact reverberates beyond the local to affect the ADE and MLA communities and the profession at large. The award is given occasionally, as appropriate nominees come to the committee’s attention.
Foster is the Charles Howard Candler Professor of English and Women’s Studies whose specialties include African-American family life and American and African-American literature. She has edited or written more than a dozen books, including most recently “'Til Death or Distance Do Us Part: Love and Marriage in African America.”
Foster also is an editor of “The Concise Oxford Companion to African American Literature” and “The Norton Anthology of African American Literature.” She was the recipient of Emory’s top faculty honor in 2006, the University Scholar-Teacher Award. Foster served as chair of Emory's English department from 2005-2008 and is the former director of the Emory Institute of Women's Studies.
