A&M-Victoria faculty member named distinguished professor
With more than 45 books and 300 articles spanning American philosophy, literary theory and higher education, Jeffrey Di Leo, professor of English and philosophy, has built a career defined by curiosity and sustained scholarly impact.
That work is now being celebrated at Texas A&M University-Victoria, where he recently was named as the university’s first Distinguished Professor.
“It’s an honor to be acknowledged by my colleagues and the university for the research that I’ve done over the course of my career,” Di Leo said. “I appreciate the support the university has given me to pursue my research. I’ve been able to write about things that I care about and share this information with my colleagues and students.”
His journey began as an undergraduate student at Rutgers University, New Brunswick. When he arrived at the university, he didn’t have a detailed plan for his future, he said. There was no family roadmap for higher education and no clear trajectory toward an academic career. What he did have was curiosity.
“I’m a first-generation college student; my parents and grandparents did not attend university,” Di Leo said. “While at university, I had some professors who encouraged me to go to graduate school, and I ended up with two Ph.Ds., one in philosophy and one in comparative literature.”
Over the span of his career thus far, Di Leo has built a record of scholarship that includes 45 published books and 300 articles that move across several interconnected areas of inquiry. He is active in national and international academic organizations, serving on the board for the Society for Comparative Literature and the Arts and speaking at conferences including the Modern Language Association and the World Congress of Semiotics.
"I am delighted to congratulate Jeffrey Di Leo on being designated a distinguished professor, one of the highest honors our institution can bestow," said Allen Rasmussen, A&M-Victoria acting provost. "It not only reflects Professor Di Leo's exceptional scholarly contributions, but also his deep commitment to teaching, mentorship and service."
Di Leo has produced books and articles that have contributed to national conversations in philosophy, literary theory and the study of higher education. Much of his writing on universities focuses on their economic dimensions, a focus that grows out of his earliest academic training, he noted.
While his research is central to the Distinguished Professor designation, his impact on the university has also been felt through his leadership and service.
Di Leo joined the university as an assistant professor and then served as dean of what was then the School of Arts & Sciences for 15 years before returning to teaching. During that time, he helped guide the university through major shifts. He was a member of the downward expansion group and worked on efforts to broaden the university’s mission and reach.
“As a first-generation college graduate, Dr. Jeffrey Di Leo’s journey is a powerful reminder of the transformative impact of higher education,” said A&M-Victoria President Christian Hardigree. “His distinguished scholarship and enduring commitment to teaching reflect the very heart of our mission, expanding opportunity, fostering curiosity and empowering students to achieve more than they imagined possible.”
He also played a key role in the core curriculum, helping to shape the academic foundation for all students. He curated the American Book Review reading series, which brought over 100 authors to Victoria and was awarded the 2016 University of Houston System Board of Regents award for Academic Excellence.
At the start of the COVID-19 Pandemic, Di Leo stepped down from the dean position and returned full-time to teaching. For the past several years, he has focused on teaching, research and service as a professor, the core responsibilities that first drew him into academia.
Even as his roles and the university around him have changed, the core of his teaching philosophy has remained consistent, he said.
"I'm interested in a wide variety of fields, from philosophy and literary theory to film and economics. If my academic career is 'distinguished,' it comes from a deep curiosity about the world,” Di Leo said. “My goal is always sharing knowledge with students and sharing my excitement for a wide range of subjects, just as my professors inspired me years ago. Teaching, to me, means listening to students and figuring out what excites them. It all starts with sparking their curiosity."
Texas A&M University-Victoria, located in the heart of the Coastal Bend region since 1973 in Victoria, Texas, offers courses leading to more than 50 academic programs in the colleges of Business, Education & Health Professions, Liberal Arts & Social Sciences, and Natural & Applied Science. A&M-Victoria provides face-to-face classes at its Victoria campus, as well as online classes that students can take from anywhere. The university supports the American Association of State Colleges and Universities Opportunities for All initiative to increase awareness about state colleges and universities and the important role they have in providing a high-quality and accessible education to an increasingly diverse student population, as well as contributing to regional and state economic development.