Charles Reagan Wilson, professor of History and Southern Studies at the University and academic director of the Center, has been named as an Outstanding Humanities Teacher of 1997 by the Mississippi Humanities Council. The Council gives the award each October in conjunction with national Arts and Humanities month.

To commemorate the award, Wilson gave a public lecture at the Center on October 28 on the topic "When Southerners Became Southerners: The Emergence of Southern Identities." Wilson received both his bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Texas at El Paso and his doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin. His specialization is Southern religious and cultural history, and his current research involves an interdisciplinary study of the Southern way of life.