The site has had two distinct forms of existence. From 1996 to 2002, the site existed in the form I gave it while a on a postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University. Although severely limited in scope, the site nonetheless received a good deal of positive response, eventually being implemented in a number of courses across the United States and elsewhere in the world. Before the redesign and expansion, the site was receiving approximately 35,000 hits per year. Awards and mentions received during this stage include those noted below.
According to the ACRL (Association of College and Research Libraries), a division of the American Library Association, the original Guide to Theory site was "one of the most-cited literary theory resources on the Web" (March 2002 issue of Internet Resources).
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Mentions
Given the positive response, I decided it was time to expand the site in dramatic ways, and, so, began a search for funding to enable the work. The expansion of the Guide to Theory has been funded by the Center for Undergraduate Instructional Development at Purdue, the Indiana Higher Education Telecommunication System (IHETS)/ Indiana Partnership for Statewide Education (IPSE), as well as a Teaching for Tomorrow grant from Purdue. The grants have allowed me to acquire new software, hardware, and further training in web design. A Dean's Incentive Teaching Grant has allowed me to hire a graduate student to create Theoretical Pursuit: A Self-Test Game. A Purdue Research Foundation Summer Faculty grant has also enabled me to begin work on a text-based introduction to theory, which I plan to have accompany the web site.
