Arts & Sciences Faculty Member Stephen Dobranski Named Regents’ Professor of English

ATLANTA — Stephen Dobranski, a professor of English who specializes in Early Modern British literature, has been named as one of two new Regents’ Professors in the College of Arts & Sciences at Georgia State University.

The award, granted by the University System of Georgia Board of Regents, recognizes scholarly achievements that are innovative, sustained, and which have earned national and international recognition for their impact.

Dobranski’s scholarship is focused on the works of the poet John Milton as well as the English Renaissance more generally. He has authored six books, co-authored a book on teaching, and edited or co-edited another six scholarly books, all with distinguished presses including Stanford University Press and Cambridge University Press. He has also been the editor of the journal Milton Studies for the past four years. The book he most recently authored, Reading John Milton: How to Persist in Troubled Times, was published by Stanford University Press in fall 2022.

Dobranski, who is considered one of the leading Milton scholars in the world, has been invited to give talks and present papers at conferences in Canada, China, England, Iceland, France, and elsewhere.

He has taught classes not only on Milton’s work, but also Shakespeare, and sixteenth- and seventeenth-century literature, as well as mythology.

Dobranski, who earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin, joined the faculty at Georgia State in 1996. He has been a Distinguished University Professor of English since 2014.

“As one of the world’s preeminent scholars of Milton, Stephen Dobranski is most deserving of the Regents’ Professor appointment,” said Sara Rosen, Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences. “I am thrilled to see the value of his scholarship recognized in this way.”

Regents’ Professor status, the highest professorial rank within the state’s system of public colleges and universities, is granted for a renewable three-year period and includes a $10,000 per year salary supplement from the university. Appointment is made by the Board of Regents on recommendation of the university president.

“I am humbled and delighted,” said Dobranski, “to have my work recognized by the Board of Regents and to be numbered among such distinguished colleagues. Much of my scholarship focuses on Milton, a revolutionary poet and thinker who lived during a time of deep political divisions. I hope this honor might help people discover his continuing relevance and the ongoing power of his writings.”

The other new Regents’ Professor in the college is Jennifer McCoy in the Department of Political Science. [Read her story here.]

Geert de Vries, in the Biology and Neuroscience departments has been reappointed as a Regents’ Professor and Guantao Chen of the Department of Mathematics & Statistics has been permanently reappointed as a Regents’ Professor.