Thirty high school teachers chosen from applicants in five Southern states will be attending the University's annual Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha Conference July 25-30 without cost, thanks to a fellowship being awarded for the first time this year. English and literature instructors in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee are eligible to apply for the Saks Incorporated Fellowships, newly created on behalf of McRae's, Proffitt's and Parisian department stores. Made possible by a four-year, $200,000 gift from the Saks Incorporated Foundation, the fellowships are intended to further the study of William Faulkner, the Nobel-Prize-winning Mississippi author, at the secondary school level.

"The Saks Incorporated Fellowships will make an extraordinary contribution to the Faulkner Conference by giving secondary school teachers the opportunity to attend this internationally recognized event, which in turn will enable these educators to introduce Faulkner to their students," said Donald M. Kartiganer, director of the conference and William Howry Professor of Faulkner Studies at the University. "The result should be very much in keeping with one of the purposes of the conference, which is to bring Faulkner to a larger, more general audience."

"With our corporate headquarters in Birmingham, Alabama, our corporate operations center in Jackson, Mississippi, and the extensive operations of our McRae's, Parisian, and Proffitt's businesses in the Southeast, the associates of Saks Incorporated are deeply connected to Southern culture," said Brad Martin, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Saks Incorporated. "No element of that culture is more treasured than the literary tradition of our great Southern writers. Our sponsorship of these Faulkner Conference Fellowships is intended to provide high school teachers in our communities with an opportunity to broaden their awareness and understanding of the importance and relevance of these great works."

The Saks Incorporated Fellowships will provide the registration fee for the conference and cover expenses for the week-long conference and teacher workshop, including instructional materials and supplies, dormitory lodging, a travel stipend, and a meal stipend. The University will award 3.9 Continuing Education Units for the teacher workshops and the conference sessions.

"The University is honored to join Brad Martin and Saks Incorporated in providing this wonderful opportunity for teachers throughout the South," said University Chancellor Robert C. Khayat. "The Faulkner Conference is a unique exploration of literature and its reflection of the human condition."

Requests for fellowship application forms should be submitted to Faulkner Conference-Saks Incorporated Fellowships, The University of Mississippi, P.O. Box 879, University, MS, 38677-0879. For further information regarding the teacher workshops, teachers may contact the University of Mississippi Institute for Continuing Studies by telephone (662-915-7282) or e-mail cstudies@olemiss.edu).

Since its creation in 1974, the Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha Conference has drawn scholars from throughout the United States and the world to Oxford, Mississippi, where the author lived and wrote his classic works. The theme of the 1999 conference is "Faulkner and Post-modernism."

MICHAEL HARRELSON