Charles J. Stivale, professor of French and interim chair of the Department of Art and Art History at Wayne State University, has been elected president of the university's Academy of Scholars for the 2003-2004 academic year.

The WSU Academy of Scholars was founded in 1979 to promote and recognize sustained excellence in scholarship and creative achievement. The academy provides support to promising young scholars and periodically hosts special programming for the campus community.

Election to the Academy of Scholars is the highest recognition that may be bestowed upon a Wayne State University faculty member by his or her colleagues. Membership in the academy is for life.

Stivale, 53, is a widely respected scholar and author. A graduate of Knox College (BA, 1971), the Sorbonne (MA, 1973; MaÃ"trise, 1974) and the University of Illinois (PhD, 1981), Stivale joined the Wayne State faculty in 1990. His WSU honors include the Career Development Chair, two Humanities Center Faculty Fellowships, two Humanities Center Working Group awards, the Distinguished Faculty Fellowship and the Distinguished Graduate Faculty Award. He served as chair of the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures from 1996 to 2002.

Stivale was inducted into the WSU Academy of Scholars in 2000.

Wayne State University is a premier institution offering more than 350 academic programs through 13 schools and colleges to more than 31,000 students in metropolitan Detroit.

Editor's Note: Charles J. Stivale is a resident of Ferndale, Michigan