The Mississippi Humanities Council selected Jameela Lares, an English professor at The University of Southern Mississippi, as the 2013 Teacher of the Year.

Lares has taught at Southern Miss since 1995 and specializes in Milton studies. She has penned two books on the subject, including “Milton and the Preaching Arts,” a volume on “Paradise Lost,” books 11 and 12 for the “Variorum Commentary on the Poems of John Milton,” both from Duquesne University Press.

“I very much enjoy teaching and researching, and am thrilled to have my twin commitments to teaching and scholarship be recognized,” Lares said.

As Teacher of the Year, Lares was awarded with a $500 stipend and will present her research in a lecture entitled “The Ghost of Rhetoric: Milton’s Logic and the Renaissance Trivium.” The lecture will be held in the Liberal Arts Building, Room 108, Nov. 21 at 5 p.m.

“Dr. Lares is an impressive woman and teacher who knows what she wants from you in class and in your writing,” said Erin Blackledge, a freshman political science major. “I mean, she’s tough and she keeps us on our toes, but she is incredibly helpful and she genuinely cares about her individual student’s academic careers far beyond her class.”

Lares has taught Milton, 17th Century Prose and Poetry, Renaissance Literature, History of Rhetoric, Literary Study of the Bible, Children’s and Adolescent Literature, World Literature and currently teaches freshman Honors Composition 1 and 2.

In addition to teaching numerous classes, she will go on her eighth teaching trip with the Southern Miss British Studies program in summer 2014.

“I am pleased that my colleagues think me worthy of such an honor,” Lares said in a Southern Miss Now press release. “I am still passionate about what I do. Ideally, everyone will go off and read Milton now.”