The University of Queensland (UQ) will create a new international position for leading Shakespeare academics, in memory of the man whose vision will shine the global limelight on Queensland and Australia in 2006.
UQ Vice-Chancellor Professor John Hay, AC, said the new Lloyd Davis Memorial Visiting Professorship would draw a major world scholar to UQ each year.
Associate Professor Lloyd Davis of the School of English, Media Studies and Art History passed away this year before his dream of hosting the VIII World Shakespeare Congress was realised.
“Dr Davis and our Executive Dean of Arts, Professor Richard Fotheringham, achieved a coup in securing the VIII World Shakespeare Congress for Brisbane in 2006,” Professor Hay said.
“They showed the Congress host, the International Shakespeare Association, that UQ had intellectual depth in the study of Shakespearean literature and theatre, as well as the capacity to realise the potential of the world’s largest gathering of Shakespeare scholars, artists, and teachers.
“UQ is committed to long-term expansion of Shakespeare studies, to build on our international reputation for excellence and the momentum of next year’s events.
“The Lloyd Davis Memorial Visiting Professorship will bring one major world scholar to UQ each year, beginning in 2006, to teach and share their scholarship with our own Shakespeareans.”
He said the success of Dr Davis and Professor Fotheringham had inspired a new wave of enthusiasm for Shakespeare.
“Queensland and Australia will enjoy the cultural and academic fruits of their work long after the Congress finishes in July 2006,” Professor Hay said.
UQ will host the World Shakespeare Congress at Brisbane City Hall from July 16 to 21, 2006.
The Congress will focus on the ways in which the Bard’s stories emerged from Elizabethan England and have been reinterpreted over the past 400 years in many different countries, languages and cultures world-wide.
Media inquiries: Fiona Kennedy at UQ Communications (3365 1088 or 0413 380 012).
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