President Robert R. Lindgren and Provost Alisa J. Rosenthal are pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Marisa R. Cull, Professor of English, as the inaugural Jean Renner Short Professor in the Liberal Arts. This award, established by the generosity of the Short Trust, honors the loyal, dedicated support of Dr. Short to Randolph-Macon College.  

“Professor Cull represents all that is best about our exceptional Randolph-Macon faculty,” says Rosenthal. “It’s my pleasure to recognize her scholarly accomplishments, outstanding teaching and mentoring, and her leadership on campus and in the profession. She personifies the Randolph-Macon commitment to the liberal arts and to the development of the mind and character of our students.”

Marisa R. Cull

Cull joined the Randolph-Macon faculty in the fall of 2008 as Assistant Professor of English.  She was awarded tenure and promoted to the rank of Associate Professor in 2014 and promoted to the rank of Professor in 2019. Cull holds the Ph.D. (2008) and a M.A. (2004) from Ohio State University and a B.A. (2002) from Capital University.

Cull is the author of the highly acclaimed Shakespeare’s Princes of Wales (Oxford University Press), nominated for first book prizes by the Modern Language Association, Renaissance Society of America, and Shakespeare’s Globe, and reviewed in the Times Literary Supplement among other significant venues.  With more than thirty articles, chapters, and presentations in peer-reviewed journals and at major conferences, she has earned recognition as an important scholar in the field of early modern literature.  She has become a leading voice advocating for the concerns of liberal arts college faculty at major research conferences and in scholarly organizations.

Cull is widely recognized by both students and colleagues as among Randolph-Macon’s finest professors, honored with the Thomas Branch Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2017 and the Art Conway Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2011.  Students extol her for challenging and rigorous courses, deep expertise and passion for the literature she teaches, and high standards and expectations matched by unfailing support.  Her colleagues in the English department and across RMC speak in similarly superlative terms about her thoughtful innovation of assignments, courses, and curricula, and about her careful rethinking, revising, and renewing of those assignments, courses, and curricula.  To a person, they cite her generosity as a colleague, always available to talk teaching challenges, pedagogical conundrums, and syllabus decisions.

Dedication and Service

Cull’s record of contribution and service to the RMC community outside the classroom demonstrates similar distinction.  Presently in her second term on the Committee on the Faculty, she currently serves as chair, a role reflecting the esteem, trust, and confidence with which her colleagues regard her.  Her service to the college in formal roles—exemplified by her service on Committee on Academic Policies, Committee on College Life, and multiple search committees—as well as informally within the English department and across the college is the work of a dedicated believer in RMC’s mission of student development and transformation through the study and exercise of the liberal arts.

About Jean Renner Short

Dr. Short, a graduate of the University of West Virginia and the Abbott School of Art, married Dr. Shelton H. Short III, a longtime Randolph-Macon supporter, in 1990.  Jean Short worked in the U.S. Bureau of the Budget and the Executive Office of the President, during the administrations of Presidents Truman and Eisenhower.  She went on to serve four terms on the Board of the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, the Jamestown-Yorktown Education Foundation, and four terms as president of the First Thanksgiving in America Festival.  Dr. and Dr. Short created two prominent scholarships at Randolph-Macon; in 2000, the college bestowed Honorary Doctorates of Humane Letters on both of them, celebrating their mutual commitment to forests, wildlife, historic preservation, humanitarianism, and higher education.

The date and location of Professor Cull’s installation as the Dr. Jean Renner Short Professor in the Liberal Arts will be announced later in fall 2020.