Orville Vernon Burton
Orville Vernon Burton, a native of Ninety Six, South Carolina, has been described as our Homer for his evocative and instructive histories, including The Age of Lincoln and In My Father’s House Are Many Mansions: Family and Community in Edgefield, South Carolina. Both were nominated for Pulitzer Prizes and The Age of Lincoln won the Chicago Tribune Heartland Literary Award for Nonfiction and was selected for readers by the Book of the Month Club, History Book Club, and Military Book Club. His more recent books include Penn Center: A History Preserved and Justice Deferred: Race and the Supreme Court (with Armand Derfner).
Burton began his studies of the American South at Furman University. Upon graduation in 1969, he served in the U.S. Army, then earned his doctorate at Princeton University in 1976. He connected the past and the future by venturing into technology while at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. At the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, he was head of an initiative for social sciences and the humanities from 1993-2002 and associate director for humanities and social science from 2002-2010. He remains a senior research scientist there. He also was the founding director of the Institute for Computing in Humanities, Arts, and Social Science, where he continues as chair of the advisory board.
Consequently, Burton is recognized for his expertise in race relations, in the American South, and in digital humanities. He has written or edited twenty books and more than 200 articles, as well as writing or directing numerous digital humanities projects. His teaching has been recognized, too, by the University of Illinois and by the Carnegie Foundation, which named him the 1999 U.S. Research and Doctoral University Professor of the
Year.
Burton returned to South Carolina in 2008, serving as Burroughs Distinguished Professor of Southern History and Culture at Coastal Carolina University until 2010, when he joined the faculty of Clemson University. Burton is the inaugural Judge Matthew J. Perry Distinguished Chair of History and Professor of Pan-African Studies, Sociology and Anthropology, and Computer Science at Clemson. Burton also serves as Director of the Clemson CyberInstitute.
Burton was inducted into the South Carolina Academy of Authors in 2016. He received the Governor's Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Humanities from the South Carolina Humanities Council in 2017.
-- Claudia Smith Brinson
Burton began his studies of the American South at Furman University. Upon graduation in 1969, he served in the U.S. Army, then earned his doctorate at Princeton University in 1976. He connected the past and the future by venturing into technology while at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. At the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, he was head of an initiative for social sciences and the humanities from 1993-2002 and associate director for humanities and social science from 2002-2010. He remains a senior research scientist there. He also was the founding director of the Institute for Computing in Humanities, Arts, and Social Science, where he continues as chair of the advisory board.
Consequently, Burton is recognized for his expertise in race relations, in the American South, and in digital humanities. He has written or edited twenty books and more than 200 articles, as well as writing or directing numerous digital humanities projects. His teaching has been recognized, too, by the University of Illinois and by the Carnegie Foundation, which named him the 1999 U.S. Research and Doctoral University Professor of the
Year.
Burton returned to South Carolina in 2008, serving as Burroughs Distinguished Professor of Southern History and Culture at Coastal Carolina University until 2010, when he joined the faculty of Clemson University. Burton is the inaugural Judge Matthew J. Perry Distinguished Chair of History and Professor of Pan-African Studies, Sociology and Anthropology, and Computer Science at Clemson. Burton also serves as Director of the Clemson CyberInstitute.
Burton was inducted into the South Carolina Academy of Authors in 2016. He received the Governor's Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Humanities from the South Carolina Humanities Council in 2017.
-- Claudia Smith Brinson
