W. Leon Coburn, associate professor of English, has been selected to receive the UNLV Alumni Association's Outstanding Faculty Award. The award, which honors exemplary performance by a UNLV faculty member in his or her field, will be presented to Coburn at noon April 10 at the Richard Tam Alumni Center on the UNLV campus.
"During his long career at UNLV, Dr. Coburn has never let down his standards," said John Irsfeld, chair of UNLV's English department. "His career as a teacher is marked by his insistence that students learn no matter how difficult it is for some of them to do so. It takes courage to stand by those standards one holds as inviolable. Dr. Coburn has done that."
Coburn has been a faculty member at UNLV since 1969 and has taught a wide range of courses in English, from remedial writing to graduate seminars. His current research focuses on composition and rhetoric, particularly imitation and modeling in the teaching of writing. He also recently completed research while teaching in England on Restoration writers John Dennis and William Congreve.
"I enjoy my career, and I am grateful for the opportunity to earn my livelihood doing something I love," said Coburn. "I can think of no other profession in which the work one does aligns so well with the principles of courtesy, friendship, and civil behavior that make life pleasant. To be chosen for this award by the board of directors of the Alumni Association is an honor. It is also a surprise, considering the many outstanding faculty with whom it has been my privilege to work for the last thirty-odd years."
In addition to teaching, Coburn has participated on a variety of campus-wide committees and served numerous community service groups, including the Southern Nevada Writing Project, National Council of Teachers of English, and the Nevada Humanities Council, among others.
He received his bachelor's degree from the University of New Mexico in 1965 and his master's and doctoral degrees from the University of California, Davis, in 1968 and 1969, respectively. In addition, Coburn also completed post-doctoral work at the University of California, San Diego and Purdue University.
