UofM’s Dr. Terrence Tucker named 2023 Alumnus of the Year by the University of Kentucky Department of English
May 10, 2023 — University of Memphis’ Dr. Terrence Tucker has been named the 2023 Alumnus of the Year by the University of Kentucky Department of English at its 42nd Annual Awards Day.
“Thank you all very much, to Dr. (Jill) Rappoport, the faculty and the staff for everything,” said Tucker. “As a chair, I know that you can’t really run a department without an incredible staff. I want to say a big thank you to the staff for everything that you have done. Thank you to the students for being excellent. Thanks to the parents and guardians for their support system because you can’t really graduate and really progress to a degree by yourself. You need a lot of help.”
Tucker, who is a full professor of African American literature and the first African American chair of the Department of English at the University of Memphis, earned his B.A. from LSU and earned his MA (2002) and PhD (2006) from the University of Kentucky. From UK, he received the Lyman T. Johnson Fellowship, named in honor of the man who helped desegregate the University of Kentucky.
“I appreciate the Lyman T. Johnson Fellowship because I would not have been able to go to graduate school and complete graduate school without being a Lyman T. Johnson Fellow,” said Tucker. “I am very thankful to everyone who built that program and continue to maintain that program. It is such an important and critical way to encourage students to come and help students progress.”
From 2014-21, Tucker was coordinator of the African American literature concentration, growing the area with expanded teaching and programming before becoming chair of the English Department.
“Dr. Tucker is an excellent scholar and administrator who is a credit to both the University of Kentucky and the University of Memphis,” said Dr. Abby Parrill, interim provost at the University of Memphis. “We are fortunate to have him as a faculty member and academic leader.”
Tucker has published a book, Furiously Funny: Comic Rage from Ralph Ellison to Chris Rock, and has another book, The Rise of the Afristocracy: Portraits of the Black Elite in Contemporary African American Literature, under contract in addition to having written numerous essays on topics ranging from race and pedagogy to African American superheroes.
Tucker currently serves as the chair of the book award advisory committee of the Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change since 2016 and has been the recipients of grants to establish communities of research scholars on social justice and healing.
“Dr. Tucker is committed to both the practice and study of teaching as evidence by many of his articles and by his work as a faculty mentor supporting and directing various dissertations,” said Dr. Jill Rappoport, UK’s chair of English, at the awards ceremony.
“For Dr. Tucker’s excellence in his scholarly field, his engagement with his students and his deep commitment to social justice and humanities outreach, we name him the 2023 UK English Alumnus of the Year.”
He has organized and moderated programs on key humanities topics such as contemporary portraits of the Underground Railroad, and he has also initiated a K-12 Teachers Workshop for his community that has addressed such topics as African American Literature and teaching race in the classroom.