St. Francis Xavier University President Dr. Sean Riley is pleased to announce that Dr. Richard Nemesvari has been appointed Dean of Arts.
 
“We are happy to have Dr. Nemesvari as the new Dean of Arts,” Dr. Riley said. “His efforts as dean will help ensure StFX continues to offer an unparalleled teaching and learning environment to students nationally and internationally.”
 
Dr. Nemesvari joined the StFX English Department in 1990 as an assistant professor and was named a full professor in 2006. He is currently in his second term as chair of the department, and has served StFX in a wide range of capacities, including as a member of both the University Senate and the Rank and Tenure Committee, as chair of both the Faculty of Arts and of University Faculty, and as vice president of the StFX AUT.
 
Dr. Mary McGillivray, Academic Vice President and Provost at StFX, joined Dr. Riley in welcoming Dr. Nemesvari as the new dean. “Since the creation of the two new Faculties in Business and Education last year, the Faculty of Arts is re-shaped, and Dr. Nemesvari brings talent, energy and enthusiasm to the new job. I am pleased he has accepted the appointment,” commented Dr. McGillivray.
 
Prior to joining StFX, Dr. Nemesvari taught at Queen’s University in Kingston, ON, where he earned his PhD in English in 1988. Dr. Nemesvari is a well-regarded teacher and scholar whose specialty is Victorian literature, with a particular focus on the fiction of Thomas Hardy. He has been the holder of a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Standard Research Grant, and his work has been published by such presses as Oxford, Cambridge, Ashgate, Wiley-Blackwell, and Palgrave Macmillan. He is a vice-president and director of the Thomas Hardy Association, and has recently accepted the position of General Editor of the Cambridge University Press Edition of the Novels and Stories of Thomas Hardy.
 
“I am honoured to be given the opportunity as dean to contribute to the Arts Faculty’s continuing evolution,” Dr. Nemesvari said, “and I am eager to build upon its substantial existing strengths in teaching and scholarship to advance our Faculty’s contribution to the overall excellence of postsecondary education at StFX.”
 
Dr. Nemesvari takes up his appointment on August 1, 2010.