Nine faculty members were given the emeritus title by the Regents at their May meeting. They are:
Alan G. Billings, professor of theatre
Prof. Billings joined the faculty in 1966 after teaching at the University of Illinois, University of Delaware and the University of Louisville. In 1990 he served as interim chair of the U-M Department of Theatre and Drama.
“Prof. Billings has been the designer for more than 150 staged productions both in connection with his academic appointment and for regional opera and theater companies,” the Regents noted. “He also has served as a theater consultant in the restoration of theaters and opera houses in Michigan, Ohio, and South Carolina. He is a member of the Association for Theater in Higher Education and of the United States Institute for Theater Technology.”
Joseph L. Blotner, professor of English
Prof. Blotner, who joined the faculty in 1972, has published widely as a critic, biographer and editor. “Known around the world as the authorized biographer of William Faulkner, he has lectured widely in the United States and Europe on Faulkner’s life and writings and on other topics in American literature,” the Regents said. His landmark biography of Faulkner, published in 1974, was published again in a revised and condensed version in 1984.
Currently he is writing an authorized biography of Robert Penn Warren, who had given him full access to his papers and correspondence before he died. The biography is scheduled for publication in December.
Janice A. Clark, associate professor of music
Prof. Clark was appointed to the faculty as a lecturer (music education) in 1958, was promoted to assistant professor in 1962 and to associate professor in 1969. She also served as a lecturer in education.
“In 1955 she began an association with the Dixboro Methodist Church as organist (later director of music) that extends to the present,” the Regents noted. “Following completion of her graduate studies at U-M, she became a consultant in elementary vocal music for the Livonia public schools.
“She has been an active participant in music educators’ associations at state and national levels.”
Gwendolyn S. Cruzat, professor of information and library studies
Prof. Cruzat, who joined the faculty in 1970, is “internationally known for her teaching in medical information and organization, U.S. government information, and education for information and library studies,” the Regents said. “She also has served on numerous University committees, including the Commission for Women and the Board in Control of Intercollegiate Athletics. She was a recipient of the Distinguished Service Award and was elected a director-at-large of the Alumni Association.
“In 1979 Prof. Cruzat received the Janet Doe Lecturer Award from the Medical Library Association, and in 1980 she was named a regent of the National Library of Medicine.”
Dorothy Donabedian, professor of nursing
Prof. Donabedian joined the faculty in 1965. “Early in her tenure,” the Regents said, “she identified three areas of need in the School of Nursing’s instructional programs: utilization of computer-assisted learning technologies; development of a freestanding nursing practice to provide community-based educational experiences for undergraduate students; and incorporation of material on the health and welfare systems into the curricula. Over the next two decades she focused on achieving each of these visionary goals.
“Well before computers became common in the classroom, Prof. Donabedian developed two computer exercises for undergraduate nursing students.”
Frances A. Larkin, associate professor of nutrition
Prof. Larkin joined the faculty in 1968. Her professional career was “notable for her service in developing countries, which reflected her constant concern for food adequacy in the Third World,” the Regents said. “She has conducted surveys among groups at nutritional risk in Central America, Bangladesh, Nepal, and in several African countries, including Ghana, which was the site of her doctoral dissertation research.
“She served as director of the Human Nutrition Program in the School of Public Health for two years, and as assistant dean for curriculum for eight years.”
Lorraine Nadelman, associate professor of psychology
Prof. Nadelman, who joined the faculty in 1963, has been “a devoted and strikingly successful undergraduate teacher, both in the context of a small liberal arts college and here in a large research university,” the Regents noted. “Whether in large lecture courses or in multi-section, hands-on advanced laboratory classes, she has truly been a master teacher: utterly dedicated, energetic, planful, handsomely organized, innovative, and endlessly capable of individualizing instruction.
“Equally important, but perhaps less visible, is her influence on the substantial numbers of graduate students whose later research focus on siblings was derived from Prof. Nadelman’s earlier work.”
Roy Pierce, professor of political science
Prof. Pierce, who joined the faculty in 1956, has made “important contributions to our understanding of comparative politics across a range of topics: from French political theorists to French political institutions to the spatial location of parties and electorates on the left-right dimension,” the Regents said.
“His landmark analysis of representation in France, Political Representation in France, co-authored with Philip Converse, won the Woodrow Wilson prize, the discipline’s top honor, in 1987. Prof. Pierce has trained a large number of scholars in the area of Western European and comparative politics.”
Joseph L. Ullman, professor of mathematics.
Prof. Ullman, who joined the faculty in 1949, served as associate chairman for graduate students in the Department of Mathematics in 1970–71 and was chair of the department’s master’s committee for many years.
“Prof. Ullman’s area of research was in classical analysis, with specific focus on approximation theory,” the Regents noted. “His papers on the asymptotic behavior of orthogonal polynomials with arbitrary measures drew international attention. Altogether he published 46 research papers and directed eight doctoral theses.”
