TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - An English professor at The University of Alabama is the second UA professor to be named a John Simon Guggenheim fellow this year. The Guggenheim is one of the most prestigious fellowships for academic achievement in the nation.

Poet Mary Ruefle, visiting associate professor in UA's College of Arts and Sciences, is also one of four professors to be awarded this fellowship at the University in the past five years, all from the department of English.

Simon Guggenheim and his wife established the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation in 1925, in memory of his son. The Foundation awards fellowships to individuals who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts. In 2001 the organization awarded an average of $36,000 to each of its recipients.

"We are delighted to announce our second Guggenheim Fellow in the last month. To have two Guggenheim Fellows selected in one year only continues the remarkable record our department of English has established in earning these respected awards. Professor Ruefle's recognition by this prestigious organization is well deserved, and we applaud her achievement," said Dr. Robert F. Olin, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

Ruefle is the author of six books of poetry including her most recent, "Among the Musk Ox People," published in 2002. Her work has been published by The Virginia Quarterly Review, The New England Review¸ The Harvard Review, The American Poetry Review, and Best American Poetry 1997 and 2001, among others journals. She is the recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Whiting Foundation.

Prior to coming to The University of Alabama, Ruefle taught at Western Michigan University, The University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Colby College, Bennington College and Vermont College. She has also served as visiting poet at several universities and was named poet in residence at the Frost Place in Franconia, N.H.

"I am highly honored and highly grateful to the Guggenheim Foundation for this fellowship," said Ruefle, who will use to fellowship to spend time writing poetry.

Ruefle holds a bachelor's in literature from Bennington College and a master's degree from Hollins College.

The College of Art and Sciences is the largest liberal arts college in Alabama and The University of Alabama's largest division with 340 faculty and 6,000 students in more than 25 departments and programs.