News Release — January 18, 2011

2011 Texas Medal of Arts Awards Honorees Include Ransom Center Director Staley

The Texas Cultural Trust has announced honorees for the 2011 Texas Medal of Arts Awards, which include Thomas F. Staley, director of the Harry Ransom Center. The honor, inspired by the National Medal of Arts, has been bestowed upon 59 Texas leaders and luminaries in the arts and entertainment industry for creative excellence and exemplary talents since its inception in 2001.

The Texas Medal of Arts Awards will be presented in Austin on Tuesday, March 1 at the Long Center for the Performing Arts.

During his tenure at the Ransom Center, Staley has raised more than $100 million in donations and collection materials. Known for its literary and cultural archives, the Center has expanded its holdings substantially under Staley's direction. Collections acquired during his tenure include the archives of Norman Mailer, Don DeLillo, David Foster Wallace, Robert De Niro, Tom Stoppard, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Doris Lessing, David Douglas Duncan, Arnold Newman, Stella Adler, Julian Barnes, Bernard Malamud, David Mamet, Brian Moore, John Fowles, Elizabeth Hardwick, David Hare, Arnold Wesker, Jayne Anne Phillips, Peter Matthiessen, James Salter and Penelope Fitzgerald. The Center also acquired the Stuart Gilbert collection of James Joyce materials and the Watergate holdings of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, among others.

Staley spearheaded the $14.5 million renovation of the Ransom Center in 2003, which included the creation of 40,000 square feet of newly constructed public space for galleries, an auditorium and a new reading room. Complementing this renovation was Staley's development of expanded exhibitions and public programs to showcase the collections in new and engaging ways.

Staley is professor of English and holds the Harry Huntt Ransom Chair in Liberal Arts. He has written or edited 13 books on James Joyce, Dorothy Richardson, Jean Rhys and modern literature and is the founding editor of the James Joyce Quarterly and Joyce Studies Annual.