Marshall University’s Dr. Rachael Peckham, a member of the university’s Department of English, has been named the 2024 Professor of the Year by the Faculty Merit Foundation of West Virginia.
Peckham was presented with the award during an event on April 17 in Charleston. She was one of five finalists for the recognition that included professors from Glenville State University, West Virginia University Institute of Technology, Shepherd University and West Virginia University.
“There is not a day goes by that I don’t count myself lucky to be a part of the Marshall family,” Peckham said during the awards ceremony. “The abundance of teaching awards, fellowships, grants and opportunities for collaboration at Marshall continually remind me of my good fortune, to be teaching at a university that so clearly values the work of its faculty — and for good reason; there is so much talent here. I am a better teacher for working alongside colleagues I admire and feel inspired by every day.”
“But it’s the students, more than anything, that bring me purpose and joy. I get to know them personally through their autobiographical writing, so to watch them grow and thrive, not just as writers but as people, brings meaning and power to every day.”
Peckham earned her bachelor’s degree from Hope College, a master’s in creative writing from Georgia College and State University and completed her doctoral work in creative writing at Ohio University.
She is the author of Alight: “Flights of Prose” (Uncollected Press) and ”Muck Fire: Prose Poems and Other Cultivations ”(forthcoming from Compass Press). Peckham’s articles, essays, and poems have received other awards and distinctions, including two honorable mentions in the Best American Essays series, the ½ K Prize at Indiana Review, the Orison Anthology Nonfiction Award, and the Special Feature Literary Nonfiction Award at Crab Orchard Review. She is a frequent lecturer and presenter and has performed numerous public readings of her writings.
In addition to the 2024 Professor of the Year honor, Peckham has been presented with the Marshall University Hedrick Outstanding Faculty Award (2022–2023); John Marshall Scholar Award (2021); the Love of Learning Award from Phi Kappa Phi (2020); and a John Deaver Drinko Distinguished Fellow (2017–2019).
Peckham becomes the fifth Marshall University professor to receive the state Professor of the Year award. Other Marshall winners include Dr. Kateryna A.R. Schray (2013), Dr. Bonita Lawrence (2009), Dr. Montserrat Martí Miller (2007) and Dr. Robert B. Walker (1989).
