Lafayette College Faculty and Staff are Honored

Outstanding professors and other members of the Lafayette College community were honored for distinguished teaching, scholarly research, and service to the College at Lafayette’s annual trustee-faculty dinner May 19 in Marquis Hall.

Lafayette President Arthur J. Rothkopf ’55; Lawrence J. Ramer ’50, the chair of the board of trustees; and June Schlueter, the provost and Charles A. Dana Professor of English, presented the awards and citations.

Three retiring faculty members were honored with certificates and gifts. They are Bernard Fried, the Gideon R. Jr., and Alice L. Kreider Professor of Biology; David L. Hogenboom, the Marshall A. Metzgar Professor of Physics; and John P. Losee Jr., the James Renwick Hogg Professor of Philosophy.

Also honored were Herman C. Kissiah, who retired last fall after 33 years of service as dean of students, and Bobbi Kerridge, who is retiring after serving Lafayette in various roles since 1970, most recently as assistant director of student activities.

Rothkopf announced that the Board of Trustees has appointed six faculty members to endowed chairs, effective with the 2000-01 academic year.

• Shyamal K. Majumdar, the Marshall R. Metzger Professor of Biology and head of the biology department, will become the Gideon R. Jr. and Alice L. Kreider Professor of Biology.
• Ann V. McGillicuddy-DeLisi, professor and head of psychology, will become the Marshall R. Metzgar Professor of Psychology.
• Anthony D. Novaco, professor and head of physics, will become the Marshall R. Metzgar Professor of Physics.
• Michael A. Paolino, director of the engineering division and professor of mechanical engineering, will be the Charles A. Dana Professor of Mechanical Engineering.
• Rado Pribic, professor of foreign languages and literatures, will become the Oliver Edwin Williams Professor of Languages.
• Ralph L. Slaght, professor of philosophy, will become the James Renwick Hogg Professor of Philosophy.
  The evening featured the awarding of prizes to faculty in recognition of exceptional teaching, scholarship, and service. The prizes are funded through designated gifts to the endowment.

Marquis Distinguished Teaching Awards for distinctive and extraordinary teaching went to John T. McCartney, associate professor and head of government and law; Mary P. Beckman, associate professor of economics and business; Ismail I. Jouny, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering; and David R. Johnson, professor of English. An endowed fund established by Lafayette trustee Walter Scott and his wife Kate, of Bermuda, provides for four annual awards.

Recipients of Student Government Superior Teaching Awards were James P. Schaffer, associate professor of chemical engineering; and Susan A. Niles, professor of anthropology and sociology.

Fried, the Kreider Professor of Biology, and Joseph A. Sherma, the John D. and Francis H. Larkin Professor of Chemistry, were the inaugural recipients of the Delta Upsilon Distinguished Mentoring and Teaching Award, established this year by the alumni of the Lafayette chapter of the Delta Upsilon fraternity on the 115th anniversary of the fraternity’s founding. The award recognizes members of the faculty for distinctive and extraordinary teaching through mentoring, which may include advising, undergraduate research, independent study, or any of the many one-on-one mentoring activities that take place in a student-centered learning environment

Andrew C. Fix, professor of history, received the Mary Louise Van Artsdalen Prize for outstanding scholarly achievement. The award was established by Dr. Ervin R. Van Artsdalen, a 1935 graduate of Lafayette, in memory of his wife.

Stephen E. Lammers, the Helen H.P. Manson Professor of the English Bible, was the recipient of the Carl R. and Ingeborg Beidleman Research Award recognizing excellence in applied research or scholarship. The prize was established by Carl R. Beidleman, a member of Lafayette’s Class of 1954 and a professor emeritus of finance at Lehigh University, and his wife, Ingeborg.

Laura Dassow Walls, associate professor of English, and Thomas R. Yuster, associate professor of mathematics, and faculty liaison to the VAST (Values and Science/Technology) program, received the James P. Crawford Award. Established by Jonathan Bernon, a 1984 Lafayette graduate from Woodbury, Conn., the prize rewards a faculty member who has demonstrated a high standard of classroom instruction. The award honors James P. Crawford, who has taught in the department of mathematics since 1957.

Hogenboom, the Metzgar Professor of Physics, received the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Foundation Award for excellence in teaching and outstanding contributions to campus life.

Robert L. Cohn, Philip and Muriel Berman Chair of Jewish Studies in the department of religion, received the Thomas Roy and Lura Forrest Jones Award for superior teaching and scholarly contribution to his discipline.

Olga Anna Dull, assistant professor in the department of foreign languages and literatures, and Helena Silverstein, associate professor of government and law, received Thomas Roy and Lura Forrest Jones Faculty Lecture Awards in recognition of excellence in teaching and scholarship. Each will receive a cash prize and will deliver a featured lecture during the 2000-01 academic year.

Also recognized were this year’s Jones Faculty Lecturers, John E. Meier, associate professor of mathematics, and Margarete Lamb-Faffelberger, associate professor of foreign languages and literatures.

Paolino, the director of engineering and professor of mechanical engineering, received the Daniel F. Golden, Class of 1934, Faculty Service Award and a $500 prize. The award recognizes distinguished service to the College through the Alumni Association and alumni activities.

Five faculty members received Joseph Johnson Hardy Memorial Fund Awards. The award was established in 1923 by Harry S. Gay of the Class of 1882 in memory of Professor Hardy, who taught mathematics and astronomy at Lafayette from 1870 to 1915. The income from this fund is divided annually among the five members of the faculty who have achieved the longest continuous service to the College.

Honored were Crawford, professor of mathematics, who joined the Lafayette faculty in 1957; Sherma, the Larkin Professor of Chemistry (1958); Losee, the Hogg Professor of Philosophy (1961); James P. Schwar, professor of computer science (1962), and Fried, the Kreider Professor of Biology (1963).

Three individuals were honored for 25 years of service to Lafayette. They are James E. Lennertz, associate professor of government and law, J. Randolph Stonesifer, associate professor of mathematics; and Barbara Young, head coach of men’s and women’s tennis and assistant director of athletics.