By JOANNA KASPE
Associate Dean of the College of Humanities, Dr. Edward A. Geary, will deliver the annual Parley A. Christensen Lecture, 'Redeeming the Waste Places of Zion: The History of a Metaphor,' tonight at 7:30 in 2084 JKHB.
With the lectureship, Geary will receive a $1,000 honorarium plus travel and research expenses. The donation comes from the P.A. Christensen family.
P.A. Christensen was a professor in the English Department from 1927 to 1965.
Every year, a committee composed of the lectureship winners of the past three years selects someone from the department. However, department chairs may nominate individuals for the honor, said Cheryl Brown, associate dean of the College of Humanities.
'The P.A. Christensen Lectureship is the top honor given to professors of literature in the College of Humanities, with the first award given in 1977. Dr. Geary's scholarship (reading and writing efforts) is impeccable and steady,' Brown said. 'He himself is a true gentleman and scholar.'
He is the author of two books of retrospective essays about Utah, 'Goodbye to Poplarhaven,' and more recently, 'The Proper Edge of the Sky,' a book that combines the history, natural history, botany, geography and folklore of southern Utah, she said.
Geary received a master's degree in English from BYU and a doctorate in English from Stanford University.
He is the chair of the Utah Centennial County History Council, a member of the advisory council of the BYU Charles Redd Center for Western Studies and director of the board of trustees for Utah. He has previously served on the executive committee of the Association for Mormon Letters.