MUW Alumni Association to recognize Faculty Award winners at Convocation
The Mississippi University for Women Alumni Association (MUWAA) is proud to announce the recipients of the New Faculty Award and Faculty Enhancement Grants. The honorees will be recognized and presented with their awards during the Homecoming Convocation held April 9-12.
“As alumni and former students, the MUWAA honors our faculty for their lasting impact on The W and the students they serve,” said Ashley Dean, MUWAA president and a 2006 W graduate. “Our faculty play a vital role in shaping the experiences and personal growth of our students, and we are grateful for the dedication they bring to our university.”
The 2026 New Faculty Award recipient is Dr. Kristen Figgins, an assistant professor of English in the Department of Languages, Literature and Philosophy. A founding editor of “Adaptation Today” and an associate editor at “Undisciplining the Victorian Classroom,”her research focuses on how evolutionary science is adapted into transhistorical textual and visual media. Her work has been published in “Adaptation and Literature/Film Quarterly.”
While the New Faculty Award recognizes a recently joined faculty member for their exceptional support of the university’s academic mission, the Faculty Enhancement Grant is awarded to faculty members who demonstrate a commitment to furthering their educational or professional activities. Faculty Enhancement Grant recipients include Dr. Nora Corrigan and Dr. Jill Drouillard.
Corrigan is a professor of English in the Department of Languages, Literature and Philosophy, where she teaches courses on Shakespeare, British Literature, World Literature and Composition. Since joining The W in 2008, Corrigan has been named the 2023 Humanities Teacher of the Year for Mississippi University for Women and received her first faculty enhancement grant in 2014. The most recent award will enable her to attend the Reacting to the Past Summer Institute in New York City, where she hopes to develop her skills at using an active learning technique that emphasizes role-playing, public speaking and primary source analysis. Her research interests include historical games and gaming, leading to her recent publications on dice games in Chaucer and Shakespeare, which have been published in “Studies in the Literary Imagination and Medieval and Renaissance Drama in England.”
Drouillard serves as director of the Women’s College and associate professor of philosophy and women’s, gender and sexuality studies. She is widely published in the fields of feminist philosophy, reproductive ethics, social philosophy and 19th- and 20th-century philosophy. Her book “Feminist Heidegger: Sex, Gender & the Politics of Birth” was published by SUNY Press in 2025.
A founding editor of “Medusa: An Undergraduate Journal of Feminist Philosophy,” Drouillard has served as president of the Mississippi Philosophical Association and is currently on the editorial board of “Symposium: Canadian Journal of Continental Philosophy.” Drouillard was also named Humanities Teacher of the Year, following Corrigan, in 2024. She is interested in experiential learning and engaged pedagogies, and as a first-generation college student, supports those from underrepresented backgrounds. She is currently organizing a Women’s Leadership Symposium that will be held in Columbus, Mississippi, this fall.
The MUWAA Faculty Awards recognize the exceptional contributions and dedication of faculty members who advance the university’s academic mission and student experience.
Support the presentation of these honors and connect with other W graduates by joining the MUWAA. To learn more, visit longblueline.muw.edu.
About the Mississippi University for Women Alumni Association
The Mississippi University for Women Alumni Association exists to support and promote the mission of Mississippi University for Women while providing alumni engagement opportunities as the university’s officially affiliated alumni organization.