(Pictured from left to right: Robert Reeder III, Dr. Corey Andrews, and YSU President Bill Johnson)
Dr. Corey Andrews, a professor of English at Youngstown State University, has been named the second Grace Ruth Memorial Endowed Professor of English at YSU.
The professorship was bestowed at a ceremony on Tuesday, August 27 at DeBartolo Hall on the YSU campus.
“We especially thank Bob Reeder, YSU class of 1981, for giving back to his alma mater in such a significant way,” said YSU President Bill Johnson. “What makes this gift so special is Bob is honoring his grandmother and recognizing her love for poetry and literature in doing so. Congratulations to Professor Andrews for earning the distinction as the Grace Ruth Endowed Professor in English.”
Corey Andrews joined YSU’s faculty in 2005. He received his undergraduate degree from Miami University, Ohio, and his Master’s and Ph.D. from Ohio University. He has published many articles, book chapters, and three books on Robert Burns, who has been considered Scotland’s national poet since the eighteenth century. Andrews has been writing about Burns’s life and works for over thirty years; his most recent book is Inventing Scotland’s Bard: The British Reception of Robert Burns, 1786-1836 (2022). He serves on the editorial board of The Burns Chronicle, a journal exclusively dedicated to scholarship on the poet since 1892. He was also recently commissioned by the National Trust of Scotland to provide content for the online resources of the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum.
“It is a great honor to be named the Grace Ruth Professorship in English; her selfless dedication to others helped many people in the Youngstown community during her lifetime,” said Dr. Andrews. “I hope to uphold the memory of her kind and charitable nature as I serve the professorship in her name.”
Grace Ruth was a life-long resident of Youngstown whose dream to attend college and ultimately become a lawyer was cut short by her father’s untimely death. An avid reader and skilled writer, she graduated from high school in just two years. She tutored underprivileged students, taught Sunday School at John Knox Presbyterian Church, was the president of the PTA at Garfield and Williamson elementary schools, and was a Cub Scout den mother. She supported civil rights long before the protests of the 1960s, and she gave generously to charities aimed at helping the poor.
“My Grandmother, who had a love of poetry, would be very pleased to have Dr. Andrews receive her Professorship in order to explore the legacy of Robert Burns. She would be excited at the prospect of furthering the already impressive scholarship of Dr. Andrews into Robert Burns,” said Robert Reeder III.
The research project he will be conducting as the Grace Ruth Professor in English will explore Robert Burns’s legacy in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Britain, focusing particularly on fictional and nonfictional representations of the poet’s life.