Johnson appointed director, Voyages of Discovery Lecture Series

East Carolina University professor and former English department chair Jeffrey S. Johnson was appointed director of the ECU Voyages of Discovery Lecture Series.

Jeffrey Johnson

He will assume the duties held by Dr. John Tucker, who guided the series since its inception in 2007.
“I am honored to have been selected by Dean William Downs as the new director for Voyages, not least of which because of my knowledge of, and enthusiasm for, Thomas Harriot,” said Johnson.

“The College of Arts and Sciences and the lecture series are, of course, named after Harriot, whose spirit of inquiry, exploration and discovery are the hallmarks of advanced learning in the natural sciences, mathematics, social sciences and humanities.”
As incoming director, Johnson sees the series as an established success, but he has goals for strengthening and sustaining its future.

“Building on the successes during the first eight years of Voyages, I want to concentrate on broadening the base of interest and support for the series, both on campus and in the surrounding community. To that end, I will reach out to individuals, offices and departments across campus to locate areas of common intellectual interest and to identify ways in which we can work together,” said Johnson.

Johnson began working at ECU as chair of the college’s Department of English in 2010, a position he held through 2014. As a scholar of British Renaissance literature, Johnson’s research focuses primarily on the writings of John Donne (1572-1631).

Beginning in October 2014, he became the general editor of “The Variorum Edition of the Poetry of John Donne,” a collaborative project involving approximately 40 international scholars.

For additional information, contact Johnson at 252-328-6378 or johnsonj@ecu.edu. More information on the Voyages of Discovery Lecture Series and Harriot College may be found online at http://www.ecu.edu/voyages or http://www.ecu.edu/cas.