April 9, 1999

Duke Entices Top Scholar in African-American Literature Away From Penn; English Dept. Chair at Stony Brook to Return to Tufts

By SCOTT HELLER

By offering his wife a steady appointment, Duke University was able to pry Houston A. Baker, Jr., from the University of Pennsylvania, where he has made a reputation as one of the nation's leading scholars of African-American literature since 1974.

Mr. Baker, a former president of the Modern Language Association, will hold an endowed professorship in English and African and African-American studies. His wife,