In 1992, Northridge established a memorial research endowment in honor of Jerome Richfield, dean emeritus and professor of philosophy. The fellowship provides three units of release time for fall 2005 or spring 2006.

Each year, the Richfield scholar presents a university lecture as part of the Provost's Colloquium Series. Hatfield's lecture, "Thirteen Ways of Reading Comics," is scheduled for 4 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 17, in the Presentation Room of the Oviatt Library located in the center of the campus at 18111 Nordhoff St. in Northridge.

A specialist in comic art, children's literature, word/image studies, film, animation and media, Hatfield is "honored and deeply thankful" to have been named the Richfield scholar.

"It's encouraging to see research in my specialty, comics studies, recognized and supported at the university level," he said. "I feel lucky to be working in an area where interest is high and recognition is growing."

The Richfield award places comic art "squarely in the tradition of humanities teaching and research," Hatfield said.

Currently co-editing a collection of essays on underground "comix" for the University of Massachusetts Press, Hatfield also is writing a monograph for the University Press of Mississippi. Entitled "Jack Kirby: The Burning Hand," the monograph discusses the work of the influential comic book creator/illustrator whose characters include Captain America, The Fantastic Four, X-Men and The Hulk, among others. It will help inaugurate the publisher's new series, "Great Comics Artists."

Hatfield has published widely on the theory and criticism of comics as a literary form. His recent publications include a book, "Alternative Comics," published in August 2005 by the University Press of Mississippi.

In addition to serving on the editorial boards of "ImageTexT" and the International Journal of Comic Art, Hatfield is chair of the International Comic Arts Festival in Washington, D. C., whose tenth anniversary will be observed at the Library of Congress in October.