Retiring Faculty Elected to Emeritus Status

Retiring faculty members Thomas H. Bruggink, professor of economics; James E. Lennertz, associate professor of government and law; Anthony D. Novaco, Marshall R. Metzgar Professor of Physics; and Chester John J. Salwach, associate professor of mathematics, have been elected to emeritus status and will be recognized at the 178th Commencement May 24. Read testamonials written by their former students.

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Chester John J. Salwach (left-right), associate professor of mathematics; Thomas H. Bruggink, professor of economics; Anthony D. Novaco, Marshall R. Metzgar Professor of Physics; and James E. Lennertz, associate professor of government and law, have been elected to emeritus status.

Bruggink has been a member of the faculty for 35 years. He received a bachelor of arts degree in mathematics from Hope College in 1969 and master of arts and doctoral degrees in economics from the University of Illinois in 1974 and 1979, respectively.

Bruggink joined the faculty in 1978 as an assistant professor and was promoted to associate professor in 1984 and to full professor in 2003. In addition to the econometrics course that he developed when he first arrived at Lafayette, he has taught a variety of courses in the Economics Department, including the popular Economics of Sports. He is the recipient of the College’s James E. Lennertz Prize for Exceptional Teaching and Mentoring.

Bruggink has a distinguished record of success in research and  published extensively with students. His most recent publications are the results of his research in sports economics related to Major League Baseball and other professional sports. His research has been published in numerous academic journals and books and cited in many media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal and USA Today.

Among other committee service at the College, he served on the Faculty Student Conduct Committee (which he chaired), the Faculty Compensation Committee, and the Health Professions Advisory Committee.

Lennertz has been a member of the faculty for 38 years. He received a bachelor of arts degree in political science from Boston College in 1966, a law degree from Harvard Law School in 1969, and a doctorate in political science from the University of Pennsylvania in 1980.

Lennertz joined the faculty in 1975 as an assistant professor and was promoted to associate professor in 1986. He has taught a range of courses from U.S. Politics and Public Paw to Political Humor. He also led a semester-abroad program at Jacobs University in Bremen and an interim comparative law course to London, Edinburgh, and Dublin.

Lennertz supervised the Government and Law Department’s internship program, served as adviser to the mock trial team, and chaired the Pre-Legal Advisory Committee. He is the recipient of the College’s Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Foundation Award for excellence in teaching and outstanding contributions to campus life, Daniel L. Golden ’34 Faculty Service Award in recognition of distinguished service to Lafayette through the Alumni Association and alumni activities, and Student Government Superior Teaching Award.

In 2004, the James E. Lennertz Prize for Exceptional Teaching and Mentoring, awarded annually to a faculty member, was established in his honor by Leslie F. Muhlfelder ’81, Lafayette’s vice president for human resources and general counsel.

Lennertz’s areas of research expertise include political representation, ethics and simulations, human rights, and interdisciplinary pedagogy and ethics. He is the coauthor of Analyzing American Government, the fourth edition of which was published in 1996, and the author of many published articles, reviews, commentaries, and conference papers. He was awarded Fulbright Grants to teach at the University of Grenoble in France and at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia.

Novaco has been a member of the faculty for 40 years and served as head of the Physics Department from 1997 to 2003. He holds bachelor of science, master of science, and doctoral degrees in physics from Stevens Institute of Technology, received in 1964, 1966, and 1969, respectively.

Novaco joined the faculty in 1973 as an assistant professor and was promoted to associate professor in 1980 and to full professor in 1989. He was named Metzgar Professor in 2000. Before coming to the College he held positions at Hudson Laboratories of Columbia University, Battelle Memorial Institute, and Brookhaven National Laboratory.

Novaco’s primary teaching responsibilities have involved the core physics sequence. He also teaches a First-Year Seminar, “Simple Rules and Complex Behavior,” and recently assumed the teaching of the department’s astronomy course. He is the recipient of the College’s Thomas Roy and Lura Forrest Jones Award for superior teaching and scholarly contribution to his discipline and Thomas Roy and Lura Forrest Jones Faculty Lecture Award in recognition of excellence in teaching and scholarship.

A theoretical physicist whose research is in the field of condensed matter, Novaco’s scholarly work has been funded by research grants from the National Science Foundation, the Petroleum Research Fund, and the Research Corporation. The author of numerous published articles, he has delivered invited talks at many conferences and scientific meetings. He has involved a number of students in his research program and supervised honors theses on a variety of topics.

Early in his career Novaco served as director of the College’s Computer Center. He has been a member of almost every major faculty committee.

Salwach has been a member of the faculty for 37 years and served as head of the Mathematics Department from 2006 to 2012. He received a bachelor of arts degree in mathematics from LaSalle University in 1972 and master of science and doctoral degrees in mathematics from Lehigh University in 1974 and 1976, respectively.

Salwach joined the faculty in 1976 as an assistant professor and was promoted to associate professor in 1980. He developed and taught courses in structured programming, combinatorial algorithms, data structures and algorithms, and discrete structures and also has taught a wide variety of other courses in the Mathematics Department.

Salwach’s research interests are in combinatorial design theory and algebraic coding theory, and he has delivered lectures and published numerous papers on these subjects. He is the recipient of the College’s Thomas Roy and Lura Forrest Jones Faculty Lecture Award in recognition of excellence in teaching and scholarship. He served as a member of the Executive Committee of the Eastern Pennsylvania and Delaware Section of the Mathematical Association of America.

Salwach served as associate head of the Mathematics Department from 2004 to 2006. He chaired a committee that developed the bachelor of science degree program in computer science. In Spring 2001 he led a semester-abroad program at Vesalius College in Brussels.

Among other committee service at the College, he served on the Student Appeals Committee, Graduate Studies and Fellowships Advisory Committee, Information Technology Advisory Committee, and Committee on Advanced Study and Research.