Victor Bailey

Victor Bailey, the director of Kansas University’s Hall Center for the Humanities, received an Endowed Directorship honor on Wednesday.

The honor comes as a $500,000 gift from the Hall Family Foundation, which was first announced in March. The funds will endow Bailey’s position as director, providing support for salary, travel and advancement of the directorship, according to a news release.

Bailey formally received the honor during a ceremony Wednesday at the Lied Center from KU Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little, according to Rosita McCoy, a spokesperson for the KU Endowment.

The Hall Center supports interdisciplinary research in the humanities, arts and social sciences. Bailey, also the Charles W. Battey Distinguished Professor of Modern British History, has acted as the Hall Center’s director for 14 years. He attended the Centre for the Study of Social History at Warwick University and the Institute of Criminology at Cambridge University.

Bailey is a social and cultural historian of English crime, criminal law, policing and punishment. He has authored two books, one of which was published earlier this year: “Charles Booth’s Policemen: Crime, Police and Community in Jack-the-Ripper’s London.”