Easterling Named Assistant Professor of English Emerita
Hattiesburg, Miss, October 19, 2012 - Iris Easterling, retired assistant professor of language and literature and curator of the Sarah Gillespie Art Museum at William Carey University, was recently recognized as assistant professor of English emerita at WCU. Dr. Garry Breland, vice president for academic affairs, presented Easterling with a framed certificate declaring her title during WCU's chapel on October 3.
The WCU administration and board of trustees resolved to give Easterling the title of assistant professor of English emerita on August 31. Easterling joined the faculty of William Carey in 1989 as assistant professor of English and as director of the free program. In 1990, she became director of external relations, a position she held for 10 years. From 2004-2005, she served as interim chair of the department of language and literature, and after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, she became curator of the Sarah Gillespie Collection of Art and was largely responsible for the salvage and restoration of the collection and for the designing of the Sarah Gillespie Museum of Art. Easterling retired in 2012, just after publishing an extensive collection handbook for the museum.