News Releases

Conforti Named USM Distinguished Professor

October 4 , 2007

Joseph Conforti, professor of American and New England Studies, has been named University of Southern Maine’s second Distinguished Professor. The appointment, among the highest accorded at the University, was awarded in recognition of his exceptional scholarship and impact both on a local and national level to the field of American studies.

The announcement was made at the annual Faculty and Staff Breakfast. Interim Provost Mark Lapping, recipient of last year’s Distinguished Professor award, nominated Conforti. The Distinguished Professor's nomination is based on peer evaluation, and USM’s council of deans must recommend the appointment to the provost and the president.

Kent Ryden, current director of the American and New England Studies Program, called Conforti’s contributions invaluable saying, “…while he is a scholar of national reputation and influence, he remains committed to the kind of work that makes a classroom, a program, and a university function well on a daily basis.”

Devinder M. Malhotra, dean USM’s College of Arts and Sciences, says, “…it is no exaggeration to suggest that the collective body of his scholarly work has successfully challenged and reframed the area of regional studies, and he has set the standards to which other scholars aspire.”

Conforti received his Ph.D. from Brown University in 1975. He was the first director of the USM American and New England Studies program (ANES). He served as director for over ten years and has been a professor in the program since. Since it’s founding, ANES has been recognized locally, regionally and nationally for the quality of its academic program, its involvement in Portland and Maine and the contributions of its graduates and faculty.  

Conforti received a proclamation from Portland’s city council recognizing him for his work on the book “Creating Portland: History and Place in Northern New England” (2005) and was asked by the Johns Hopkins University Press to contribute a volume to its Regional Perspectives on Early America series, of which the result was his book “Saints and Strangers: New England in British North America” (2006). He has also written four other books, over 20 article essays and has contributed to over 10 biographical and critical essays in four reference works.

Conforti, a resident of Portland, is currently involved in numerous community service programs, such as the Maine Humanities Council and the Program on Philanthropy and Civic Tradition. He has been awarded numerous grants and honors, such as the Richard Beale Davis Prize for Best Essay Published in Early American Literature in 1991 and most recently, in 2002, the Annual Best Book Award by the Northeast Popular Culture-American Culture Association.  

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