5/24/01

Janet L. McCoy

AU PROFESSOR NAMED DISTINGUISHED LIBERAL ARTS ALUM AT PURDUE

AUBURN -- Paula Backscheider, Auburn University's West Point Stevens Eminent Scholar, has been named as one of four Distinguished Liberal Arts Alumni as part of Purdue University's millennium celebration.

Backscheider, who specializes in Restoration and 18th century literature, feminist criticism, cultural studies and biography, received her bachelor's degree and doctoral degree from Purdue University.

Purdue University's School of Liberal Arts recently recognized four alumni for outstanding contributions to their fields.

Backscheider is an authority on the British writer and political radical Daniel Defoe, author of such works at Robinson Crusoe and Moll Flanders, and on 18th century women writers.

A biography she authored on Defoe is internationally recognized and she is one of the few American members of the Institute for Advanced Studies at the University of Edinburgh. Backscheider has written 18 books and 38 journal articles.

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CONTACT: Backscheider, 334/844- 9091.