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Department of English Language and Literature

Directory

William Rivers

Title: Distinguished Professor Emeritus
Department: English Language and Literature
College of Arts and Sciences
Email: riversw@sc.edu
Office: HUO 523
Resources: English Language and Literature
profile

Education 

PhD, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1976
MA, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1971
BA, Wofford College, 1968

Areas of Specialization 

    Eighteenth-Century British Literature
    Composition and Rhetoric
    History of the Book and Authorship

Professional Accolades 

    William L. Mitchell Prize for Bibliography or Documentary Work on Early British Periodicals or Newspapers. Awarded by the Bibliographical Society of America in 2006 for Nicholas Amhurst, Terrae Filius; or, the Secret History of the University of Oxford (1721; 1726). (A Modern Critical Edition) Newark: University of Delaware Press, 2004. See http://www.bibsocamer.org
    The Folger Institute: five grants totaling over $15,000 to support research in the Folger Shakespeare Library and to attend seminars on documentary editing and seventeenth and eighteenth-century history, politics, and economics.
    NCR-Columbia: $154,150 plus equipment to establish and operate the NCR-USC Document Validation Laboratory and a technical writing resource center. January 1988-December 1995.

Administrative Experience

    Chair, Department of English (2007—2014)
    Director, First-Year English [Freshman Composition], Department of English, University of South  Carolina,  1987--1992; 2001--2007.
    Associate Chair, Department of English, University of South Carolina, 1999.
    Principal Investigator, NCR‑USC Document Validation Labora­tory, University of South Carolina.  January 1988--1993.

Current Research Projects 

    Nicholas Amhurst's Contributions to The Craftsman. (Amhurst's contributions included both lead essays and poetry. This project will include at least three separate volumes: two volumes of Amhurst's Craftsman essays and one volume of his poetic contributions.)
    An edition of Nicholas Amhurst's collected poetry, 1717-1726. (This project will probably produce two separate volumes.) Articles and presentations on the periodical literature of England during the 1710s, 20s, and 30s.

Selected Publications 

    Nicholas Amhurst, Terrae Filius; or, the Secret History of the University of Oxford (1721; 1726). (A Modern Critical Edition) Newark: University of Delaware Press, 2004.
    Issues and Images: An Argument Reader. Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich: Ft. Worth, TX., 1993.
    Business Reports: Samples from the "Real World." Prentice Hall, Inc.: Englewood Cliffs, N. J., 1981.
    Twenty-two Articles or Book Chapters on Writing, Literature, and Interdisciplinary Issues in major refereed Journals including Papers on Language and Literature; Eighteenth Century Life; The Journal of Business Communication; The Journal of Business and Technical Writing; or books published by the Association of Teachers of Technical Writing; Modern Language Association; Random House; Association of Business Communication; or The National Council of Teachers of English.
    Over thirty Papers presented at Professional Meetings (International, National, Regional, and Local) on Writing, Literature, and Interdisciplinary Issues. Venues include College Conference on Composition and Communication, Modern Language Association (national and regional conferences), Society for Technical Communication (international and local meetings), Association for Business Communication (international and regional conferences), The Victorian Institute, Conference on Technology and the Humanities, Southern Humanities Conference, Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies, among others.


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