ATHENS, Ohio - The University of Missouri at Rolla recently named Ohio University Distinguished Professor of History Charles C. Alexander its second Maxwell C. Weiner Distinguished Professor of Humanities. Beginning in January 2002, Alexander will teach a course entitled American Baseball History for UMR's Department of History during the school's spring semester.

The Maxwell C. Weiner Missouri Distinguished Professorship in Humanities was established by an estate gift to UMR in 1999 by the late Maxwell C. Weiner, who was a graduate of the school. He also studied at the University of Hawaii and Washington University in St. Louis before retiring from Westinghouse Electric Corp. The professorship is rotated annually or biennially among academic departments in UMR's College of Arts and Sciences.

Alexander, who partially retired from Ohio University in 1999, spent more than 30 years as a history professor. He has taught university courses on baseball and sports history for more than 15 years and will publish his latest book, "Breaking the Slump: Baseball in the Depression Era," this spring.

Alexander, who taught at Ohio University during fall quarter, plans to continue teaching courses one quarter per academic year in Athens.

He was recently listed in the 2002 edition of "Who's Who in America," the leading biographical reference of the highest achievers and contributors around the world.

A native of Cass County, Texas, Alexander earned his bachelor's degree from Lamar University in 1958 and his master's and doctoral degrees from the University of Texas in 1959 and 1962, respectively.