English and Theatre Professor Receives Earl Award
Leonard G. Gougeon, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor of English and Theatre at The University of Scranton, received the John L. Earl III Award for 2020. The award was presented as part of a virtual faculty award ceremony held in April. From left are Dr. Gougeon and Jeff Gingerich, Ph.D., acting president, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at The University of Scranton.Leonard G. Gougeon, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor of English and Theatre at The University of Scranton, received the John L. Earl III Award for service to the University, the faculty and the wider community. The 2020 John L. Earl III Award was presented at a virtual faculty award ceremony on campus that took place in April 2021.
The award is given annually to a member of the University community who demonstrates the spirit of generosity and dedication that the late Dr. John Earl, a distinguished professor of history, exemplified during his years at Scranton from 1964 to 1996.
An internationally recognized scholar on Ralph Waldo Emerson, Dr. Gougeon has taught at the University for nearly fifty years. He joined the faculty at Scranton in 1974. A past-president of the Ralph Waldo Emerson Society, Dr. Gougeon received the society’s Distinguished Achievement Award in 2008. He has presented on Emerson and the British at Oxford University, and, in 2003, was one of a small group of invited scholars who spoke at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Historical Society as part of the Emerson Bicentennial celebration.
Dr. Gougeon is the author of Virtue’s Hero: Emerson, Antislavery, and Reform; Emerson and Eros: The Making of a Cultural Hero; and Emerson’s Truth, Emerson’s Wisdom: Transcendental Advice for Everyday Life. He is the coeditor of Emerson’s Antislavery Writings. He has published numerous scholarly articles on major figures of the American antebellum period in such journals as The New England Quarterly, American Literature, Walt Whitman Quarterly Review, Studies in the American Renaissance, Modern Language Studies and others. His essays appear in a number of collections including The Oxford Handbook to Transcendentalism, Emerson Bicentennial Essays, The Cambridge Companion to Henry David Thoreau, Thoreau at 200: Essays and Reassessments, A Political Companion to Ralph Waldo Emerson, Emerson in Context, Teaching Emerson and others. In 2015, he received the University’s Excellence in Scholarly Publication Award.
During his distinguished career at Scranton, Dr. Gougeon served as a member of the Faulty Senate for 31 years, including as a member of the Senate Committee on Shared Governance and Leadership. He also served as chair of the University Senate and as a member of the Faculty Affairs Council, where he served on its Board on Rank and Tenure and its Handbook Committee.
Dr. Gougeon earned his bachelor’s degree from St. Mary’s University Halifax, and his master’s degree and Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
