Robert “Tony” Brinkley
Associate Professor of English

Professor Tony Brinkley is a specialist in British poetry of the Romantic era.  His unusually wide intellectual interests extend to literary theory, film, and Russian literature.   He is also an accomplished poet.   One of the department’s most popular teachers, he has been responsible for mentoring many of our best students, particularly M.A. students whom he has helped toward success in doctoral work.    Students enjoy his incisive, speculative intellect and his whimsical humor.   Tony thrives on interaction with students and regularly teaches overload courses as well as summer courses, maintaining an active scholarly career despite his heavy course load.  His team-taught summer course that combines reading, writing, gardening and meditation is one good example of his eclectic and imaginative approach to teaching.     
                    
As Chair of the Department for nearly six years, Tony helped to build the program in poetry and poetics by successfully advocating for new faculty positions and supporting those faculty in creating enterprises such as the New Writing Series, which is now nationally known.   While graduate studies coordinator, he encouraged the formation of the English Graduate Students Association, which has gone on to play an active role in the department’s intellectual life.  Tony’s record of service on university committees and task forces goes on for many pages, and he has also done much work on state economic initiatives such as the Kennebec-Chaudiere Tourism Corridor and the HermonNet project.   His contacts extend to the State House and the Maine business community as well as to every corner of the campus.
  
We congratulate Tony on 25 years of dedicated service to the English Department and to the University of Maine!