PLATTSBURGH —
▶ Translator nominated for, awarded highest academic rank of Distinguished Professor
Dr. Alexis Levitin is the second Plattsburgh State professor appointed to the rank of SUNY Distinguished Professor by the SUNY Board of Trustees.
Dr. Mark Cohen, a professor of anthropology, was the first to receive the prestigious award at the college. Levitin, a professor of English, was recently recognized for his work as a translator of Portuguese and Brazilian literary works by Eugenio de Andrade, Egito Concalves, Carlos de Oliveira, Astrid Cabral and Clarice Lipsector, among others.
Coincidentally, both Cohen and Levitin earned their doctorates at Columbia University.
According to application materials: "the distinguished professorship is conferred upon faculty having achieved national or international prominence and a distinguished reputation within the individual's chosen field through significant contributions to the research and scholarship, or through artistic performance or achievement in the fine and performing arts."
"This is an appointment to the State University's highest-academic rank," Levitin said. "It's an honor."
The award includes up to a $2,500 salary increase. Distinguished professors are expected to offer lectures and seminars for students and scholars on other SUNY campuses.
Dean of Arts & Science Dr. Kathleen Lavoie nominated Levitin. Letters of support were written in his behalf by colleagues Ann Tracy, Jurgen Kleist, David Mowry and Thomas Moran. His nomination portfolio included a curriculum vitae, nomination abstract and a letter of endorsement by President John Ettling.
External recommenders were Raine Schulte, founder of American Literary Translators Association; Wiliam Baer, translator; Marilyn Gaddis Rose, founder of Translation Center at SUNY Binghamton; Ellen Watson, director of Poetry Center at Smith College; Sheryl St. Germain, director of Graduate Program of Creative Writing at Chatham University; Gastão Cruz, Portuguese poet and critic; Olivia Sears, founder of the Center for the Art of Translation; and Breon Mitchell, director of the Lilly Library at Indiana University.
This summer, Levitin spent a month at the European Translators College in Straelen, Germany.
"They have 40,000 dictionaries," he said. "I finished several short stories by contemporary writers — Gastão Cruz and Rosa Alice Branco — which have been accepted by Rosebud. I spent two weeks with her (Branco) in Portugal."
Levitin's most recent project is a first-ever children's book, "Carioca Invitations."
"I did it because the watercolors are so beautiful. Carioca means anyone who lives in Rio. It's an invitation to the different parts of Rio. It's all designed for children. I had the challenge of turning it into rhymed children's verse in English. That was fun."
In January, "Brazil: A Traveler's Literary Companion" was published by Whereabouts Press. Levitin edited and translated four of the 40 stories in the collection.
His previous awards include two National Endowment for the Arts fellowships; two National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Seminar awards; three Columbia University Translator Center awards; and residencies at the Rockefeller Foundation Center in Bellagio, The Banff Center for the Arts in Canada and the European Translators Center in Germany.
Before coming to Plattsburgh State in 1982, Levitin taught at Dartmouth, Tufts, Colby and Denison universities. He was a Fulbright professor at Porto and Coimbra universities in Portugal.
For him, learning Portuguese was a fluke.
"Chance is so important in our lives. The only thing you can control is what you do with it."
When Levitin finished his doctoral studies at Columbia, it was December. He had no money in his bank account. He asked the secretary at Columbia if she knew of any job offers — anywhere in the world.
"She laughed," Levitin said. "Then she said, 'Wait a minute.' She pulled out this notice she received from Brazil. It said, 'on an island of lush, green tropical hills and spectacular white-sandy beaches, the Federal University of Santa Catarina is seeking a recent Ph.D. in American literature to help us build a graduate program in the studies of English and American Language and Literature.'"
He applied. Three weeks later, he received a telegram: "Congratulations, you have been chosen."
"I didn't speak a word of Portuguese," Levitin said. "I learned Portuguese there. It is a beautiful language, and I did not want to lose it, ever. And so, when I decided to return to live the rest of my life as an American, I started translating to retain contact with that beautiful, exotic world and its beautiful language."
His decision to translate poetry was not an accident but a choice.
"I was reading Portuguese poetry before I could read the newspaper," Levitin said. "I'm more at home in the world of poetry."
E-mail Robin Caudell at: rcaudell@pressrepublican.com
