Former Cleveland resident Lee Casson has received recognition as an English professor at Middle Tennessee State University.

Casson, son of Flavis and Nancy Casson, received the 2011-2012 award for Outstanding Teaching in General Education English from the College of Liberal Arts.

To receive this honor, a professor must be nominated by a colleague and “compile a dossier--which includes a curriculum vita, a philosophy-of-teaching statement, a letter of recommendation, samples of curriculum, and recent student evaluations,” Casson said.

Casson teaches research and argumentative writing, survey of literature and American literature at MTSU.

“I taught my first English course at Chattanooga State Community College during the Fall 1993 semester. Indeed, I was a little ‘green,’ but I realized that I was quite good and that I enjoyed teaching literature and writing,” Casson said.

Casson was also working in his master’s degree in English from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga at the time.

He is now working on his doctorate degree in English.

“I will be begin my disseration this summer, and I hope to finish by May 2013,” Casson said.

Casson lived in Cleveland with his parents until 1986. He graduated from Cleveland High School.

Flavis Casson said the family is proud of Lee Casson.

Flavis Casson referred to the award as “quite an honor coming from a peer group that size.”