The University Record, January 24, 2000 Editor’s Note: The following actions were taken by the Regents at their January meeting.
By Wono Lee
News and Information Services
Endowed chairs
Three faculty members were named to endowed professorships.
George J. Brewer, professor of human genetics and of internal medicine, will hold the Morton S. and Henrietta K. Sellner Professorship of Human Genetics, effective Feb. 1.
Annemarie Sullivan Palincsar, professor of education, will hold the Jean and Charles R. Walgreen Jr. Professorship of Reading and Literacy, effective Jan. 1.
Panos Y. Papalambros, professor of mechanical engineering, will hold the Donald G. Graham Professorship of Engineering, effective Jan. 1.
“Dr. Brewer has been a distinguished member of the U-M faculty since 1965,” said Medical School Dean Allen S. Lichter. “The Sellner Professorship was established, through a generous gift from the Sellner family and is intended to support research efforts in genetic diseases, particularly Wilson’s Disease. The Sellner family made this gift in recognition of Dr. Brewer’s care of their son, Ascher Sellner, and of Dr. Brewer’s persistent efforts to develop a safe and effective therapy for Wilson’s Disease. This appointment will serve to recognize Dr. Brewer’s clinical research efforts, as well as his numerous contributions to the Medical School, the University and the scientific community at large.”
Palincsar, who joined the U-M in 1989, was named associate dean of the School of Education in 1998. “Since her arrival at the U-M, Dr. Palincsar has received the Raymond B. Cattell Early Career Award for Programmatic Research from the American Educational Research Association (1991) and was named a Fellow in the International Academy for Research in Learning Disabilities (1992),” said Karen Wixson, dean of the School of Education. “During her tenure at Michigan State University, she received the Michigan State Teacher-Scholar Award (1985–86), the Michigan State Woman Achiever Award (1985–86), and the Early Contribution Award (from the American Psychological Association, 1988).”
Papalambros, who joined the U-M in 1979, has “an outstanding record as a teacher and developer of curricular innovations and was the founding director of his department’s Design Laboratory,” said Stephen W. Director, dean of the College of Engineering. “He has supervised 19 doctoral dissertations and numerous undergraduate and graduate design team projects. These activities have resulted in his receiving awards for the excellence of his teaching and student mentoring. His research interests are in design methodology and optimization and in applications of operations research and artificial intelligence to design. He has an extensive publication record and multiple external sponsors of his research.”
Administrative appointments
Administrative appointments approved by the Regents included:
Gay Ann Delanghe, professor of dance, was reappointed chair of the Department of Dance, effective July 1, 2000–June 30, 2005.
Erik Fredricksen, professor of theater and drama, was reappointed chair of the Department of Theater and Drama, effective July 1, 2000–June 30, 2005.
Yavuz A. Bozer, professor of industrial and operations engineering, will serve as the Goff Smith co-director of the Joel D. Tauber Manufacturing Institute, effective Jan. 1.
Laurence F. McMahon Jr., professor of health management and policy and of internal medicine, will be acting chair of the Department of Internal Medicine, effective Jan. 1.
James S. Reece, professor of accounting and operations management, will serve as the Ford Motor Company co-director of the Joel D. Tauber Manufacturing Institute, effective Jan. 1.
Tenured appointments
Tenured faculty appointments included:
Terese M. Olson, from the University of California, Irvine, will be associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, effective Jan. 1.
Tresa M. Pollock, from Carnegie Mellon University, will be professor of materials science and engineering, effective Jan. 1.
Gifts
The Regents accepted $27,214,207 in gifts received during December 1999. The total included $17,492,792 from individuals, $4,434,459 from corporations, $2,251,378 from foundations, and $3,035,578 from associations and others.
Faculty retirements
Eight faculty members were given the emeritus title:
Charles M. Butter, professor of psychology; Donald A. Calahan, professor of electrical engineering and computer science; Edward F. Domino, professor of pharmacology; Phillip A. Fellin, professor of social work and former dean of the School of Social Work;
Ann E. Larimore, professor of geography and of women’s studies; James S. Milne, professor of mathematics; Albert B. Schultz, the Vennema Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics, professor of mechanical engineering and applied mechanics and of biomedical engineering, and research scientist, Institute of Gerontology; Leslie W. Tentler, professor of history, U-M-Dearborn.
Butter, who joined the U-M in 1962, is “a leading scholar in the field of brain mechanisms of attention,” the Regents said. “His studies have illuminated the nature of deficits of visual attention that are caused by various types of lesions of the neocortex or subcortical brain structures. A major focus of his work has involved the perception of spatial relations and of visual objects in space, and the processing of space in relation to self, in order to clarify the neural controls that direct attention. His research over the decades has also touched on other topics in behavioral neuroscience and physiological psychology, ranging from associative learning to the brain mechanisms of motivation and emotion.”
Calahan joined the U-M in 1966. “His research focused on circuit theory, computer-aided circuit design, and large-scale engineering/scientific computation. He has published numerous journal and conference articles and several textbooks on computer-aided network design and modern network synthesis and analysis. He also served as associate editor on computational algorithms for IEEE Transactions on Computers and was a member of the NASA Technical Advisory Board. He has taught many graduate and undergraduate EECS courses over the years in computer architecture and high-speed computation and circuits, as well as in-service courses for non-electrical engineering students.”
Domino joined the U-M in 1953. “Dr. Domino’s research has focused on the broad field of neuropsychopharmacology, with its implications in anesthesiology, gerontology, neurology, psychiatry and toxicology. He has published more than 300 original research articles in peer-reviewed journals and has authored or edited a dozen scientific books. He has served brief terms as a visiting professor at a number of universities, both in the United States and abroad. He has served on the editorial boards of approximately 20 scientific journals. As a teacher, Dr. Domino has played a major role in the pharmacology courses for second- and fourth-year medical students and also for medical students in the neurosciences program.”
Fellin, who joined the U-M in 1965, “attained national prominence as a social work educator and scholar,” the Regents said. “He systematized field instruction and created a much closer relationship between classroom content and students’ field activities. He increased the use of social science content and research in social work education to the benefit of his students. His research and scholarly writing focused on issues of policy, community-based care, the evaluation of diversity within schools of social work and equal opportunities for women in social work education. In addition to his dean appointment, Prof. Fellin assumed leadership roles in other capacities.”
Larimore, who joined the U-M in 1966, served as associate director of the Residential College in 1975–80 and 1981–88. “Throughout her academic career, cultural diversity has been at the forefront of Prof. Larimore’s concerns,” the Regents noted. “Even before the word ‘multiculturalism’ became widely utilized, she was studying the diverse cultural geography of East Africa and West Asia, and she became an expert on the culturally variegated and complex society of Turkey. Over the years, her areas of interest have also incorporated multicultural feminist teaching strategies and philosophy, as well as interdisciplinary approaches to teaching about the influence of cultural values—especially concerning gender and ethnicity—on resource use and environmental attitudes.”
Milne joined the U-M in 1969. “His research focuses on arithmetical geometry, more specifically on Albelian varieties and Shimura varieties. He solved many outstanding conjectures related to these varieties. In the process, he developed or refined many of the tools used in arithmetical geometry. He is the author of 45 research papers and four books; his books are used as basic references in his field. His writing is succinct and tightly focused. He is a superb lecturer and has written many lecture notes. Prof. Milne directed eight doctoral theses and gave unstintingly to all students, undergraduate and graduate. He is an outstanding mountain climber and is particularly fond of the challenges presented in Nepal.”
Schultz, who joined the U-M in 1983, is “internationally recognized for his biomechanics research, reported in more than 130 publications. His early research explored the mechanics of idiopathic scoliosis and low back pain. More recently, he has studied—from the viewpoint of engineering mechanics—the assessment, treatment and prevention of physical problems and injuries that commonly arise in older populations. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, fellow in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, past president of the International Society for the Lumbar Spine and co-founder and past president of the American Society of Biomechanics.”
Tentler, who joined the Dearborn faculty in 1973, is “noted for her brilliant versatility in teaching a wide array of courses, ranging from labor history, women’s history, immigration, family in American history and religion in American history, to the Civil Rights Movement, contemporary Christianity, and American urban history. Her research interests have focused on women’s history, labor and immigration, ethnicity and religious history, and contemporary Catholicism. Her most prominent work was represented in Wage-Earning Women: Industrial Employment and Family Life in the United States, 1900-1930 and in Seasons of Grace: A History of the Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit, the definitive history of the Archdiocese of Detroit.”
