UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Mark S. Morrisson, Liberal Arts Professor and head of the Department of English, has been appointed to serve as the next associate dean for undergraduate studies in Penn State’s College of the Liberal Arts, effective July 1.
Morrisson will succeed B. Richard Page, who will return to his faculty position as associate professor of German and linguistics.
“I am very happy that Mark has chosen to serve our college in this new capacity,” said Clarence Lang, Susan Welch Dean of the College of the Liberal Arts. “He’s had an exemplary career here at Penn State, both as a scholar and as a department head, and I’m confident he will bring the right mix of intellect, fresh ideas and passion to this critical leadership role. I’m looking forward to collaborating with him as we continue to navigate the college through these challenging yet also exhilarating times for the University and higher education at large.”
Morrisson said he’s “humbled and honored to have been chosen to undertake this new role,” and is eager to get started.
“The College of the Liberal Arts has been a great intellectual space in which to tackle key issues of our time,” Morrisson said. “I look forward to fostering more opportunities for undergraduate research and to supporting student experiences that help Penn Staters see both deep disciplinary thinking and interdisciplinary connection as key features of a university education. Liberal Arts offers critical perspectives on rapidly developing technologies, such as artificial intelligence, and on issues important to our future, such as sustainability and the renewal of civil society. My goal is to ensure that all Penn State students are energized by the Liberal Arts in whatever course of study they have chosen.”
Morrisson joined the Penn State faculty in 1996 after receiving his doctorate in English language and literature from the University of Chicago. He’s led the English department since 2011, and prior to that served in several administrative positions, including as the department's director of undergraduate studies.
A specialist in late 19th- and early 20th-century literature and print culture, Morrisson has published extensively, including three monographs and a co-edited book. Among other accolades, he’s received the University’s Milton S. Eisenhower Award for Distinguished Teaching and the Service to the College of the Liberal Arts Award.
Through the years, Morrisson has fostered several international connections through the Department of English, from taking students on several study-abroad trips to Ireland since 2002, to arranging a partnership between the English department at Penn State and Nanjing University in China. He’s also served in other leadership roles beyond the University, including as president of the Modernist Studies Association and as an elected member of the Association of Departments of English Executive Committee of the Modern Language Association.
Morrisson said it’s been a privilege to spend his entire academic career teaching students at a world-class public research institution like Penn State, which both of his children chose to attend — Devin Morrisson graduated from the Eberly College of Science, while Sé Morrisson is a current College of the Liberal Arts student.
“I have long been committed to interdisciplinary research at the intersection of the humanities and natural sciences, and I see fostering interdisciplinary collaboration between the college and other units across the University as a major strength of Penn State,” Morrisson said. “Having taught a class with a chemistry professor for more than 15 years now and hearing from colleagues across the country that such a class could never be taught at their institutions, I understand how special this place can be. I aim to maximize the opportunities for Liberal Arts undergraduate students to make connections among disciplines both inside the classroom and in their broader experiences in the college that fire their imaginations, make them more capacious thinkers, and prepare them for a world their generation will make.”