Editor’s Note: The following actions were taken by the Regents at their June meeting.
By Wono Lee
News and Information Services
Administrative appointments
Administrative appointments approved by the Regents included:
Frederick R. Amrine, the Arthur F. Thurnau Professor and associate professor of Germanic languages and literatures, was reappointed chair of the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, effective July 1, 2000–June 30, 2003.
Anthony H. Francis, professor of chemistry, was reappointed LS&A associate dean for research, computing and facilities, effective July 1, 2000–June 30, 2001.
Donald S. Lopez Jr., the Arthur F. Thurnau Professor and professor of Buddhist and Tibetan studies, was reappointed chair of the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures, effective July 1, 2000–June 30, 2003.
Suellyn Scarnecchia was reappointed associate dean for clinical affairs of the Law School, effective Sept. 1, 2000–Aug. 31, 2002.
William J. Adams, professor of economics, will serve as LS&A associate dean for academic affairs, effective July 1, 2000–June 30, 2003.
Frank J. Ascione, associate professor of pharmacy, will serve as associate dean for academic affairs of the College of Pharmacy, effective July 1, 2000–June 30, 2005.
Joel D. Blum, professor of geological sciences and the John D. MacArthur Professor of Geological Sciences, will serve as chair of the Department of Geological Sciences, effective July 1, 2000–June 30, 2005.
James K. Coward, professor of medicinal chemistry and of chemistry, will serve as chair of the Department of Medicinal Chemistry, College of Pharmacy, effective July 1, 2000–June 30, 2005.
Howard A. Kimeldorf, professor of sociology, will serve as chair of the Department of Sociology, effective July 1, 2000–June 30, 2005.
Duane M. Kirking, professor of social and administrative sciences, will serve as chair of the Department of Social and Administrative Sciences, College of Pharmacy, effective July 1, 2000–June 30, 2005.
Steven L. Kunkel, the Pathology Research Endowed Professor and professor of pathology, was reappointed associate dean for biological sciences and life sciences initiatives in the Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies, effective Sept. 1, 2000–Aug. 31, 2001.
Ronald G. Larson, the George Granger Brown Professor of Chemical Engineering, professor of chemical engineering and professor of macromolecular science and engineering, will serve as chair of the Department of Chemical Engineering, effective Sept. 1, 2000–Aug. 31, 2005.
Barry G. Rabe, professor of environmental policy, will serve as interim dean of the School of Natural Resources and Environment, effective July 1.
Douglas O. Richstone, professor of astronomy, will serve as chair of the Department of Astronomy, effective July 1, 2000–June 30, 2005.
David E. Smith, professor of pharmaceutics, will be chair of the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, effective July 1, 2000–June 30, 2005.
Gary S. Was, professor of nuclear engineering and radiological sciences and of materials science and engineering, will serve as associate dean for research of the College of Engineering, effective Sept. 1, 2000–Aug. 31, 2005.
Amy S. Harris, associate director and development officer of the Exhibit Museum of Natural History, will serve as interim director of the museum, effective July 1, 2000–June 30, 2002.
Endowed and titled professorships
Faculty appointments to endowed and titled professorships, approved by the Regents included:
Richard Crawford, the Glenn McGeoch Collegiate Professor of Music and professor of music, will hold the Hans T. David Distinguished University Professorship of Musicology, effective Sept. 1.
Marion A. Guck, professor of music (music theory), was named to the Louise Cuyler Collegiate Professorship of Music, effective Sept. 1.
Rachel Kaplan, professor of natural resources and of psychology, will hold the Samuel Trask Dana Professorship of Environment and Behavior, effective Sept. 1.
Pramod P. Khargonekar, professor of electrical engineering and computer science, will hold the Claude E. Shannon Professorship of Engineering Science, effective Sept. 1.
Ronald J. Mann, professor of law, will hold the Roy F. and Jean Humphrey Proffitt Research Professorship of Law, effective July 1.
Homer A. Neal, interim president emeritus, vice president emeritus for research, the Samuel A. Goudsmit Professor of Physics, and professor of physics, will hold the Samuel A. Goudsmit Distinguished University Professorship of Physics, effective Sept. 1.
Martin S. Pernick, professor of history, will hold the Richard Hudson Research Professorship of History, effective Sept. 1.
John A. Witter, professor of forestry, will hold the George Willis Pack Professorship of Forest Entomology, effective Sept. 1.
“Prof. Crawford is a highly-acclaimed scholar of American music whose reputation in his discipline is unsurpassed by that of any living scholar,” Provost Nancy Cantor said. “He is known as a scholar with a genius for seeing the ‘big picture’ and for striking at the essential heart of meaning. Despite a demanding program of scholarly research and publication, Prof. Crawford has maintained a distinguished record of departmental, college and university service. He has been equally diligent in service to his profession. He has occupied numerous key positions in the American Musicological Society and is, in fact, the first Americanist to have been elected president of the Society.”
“Prof. Guck is a prolific writer, with many articles and book chapters published by the university presses of Cambridge, Cornell and Oxford, and in the most important journals including Perspectives of New Music and the Journal of Musicology,” said Paul C. Boylan, dean of the School of Music. “She has presented papers at the Library of Congress, University of California-Berkeley, University of Virginia, Columbia University, the British Musicological Societies Biennial Conference, the American Musicological Society, and on many occasions for the Society for Music Theory.”
“Prof. Kaplan, known nationally and internationally for her innovative research on the benefits of nature experiences, has published widely on environmental preference, public participation, nature benefits and related topics,” said Daniel A. Mazmanian, dean of the School of Natural Resources and Environment. “Prof. Kaplan is also known as an outstanding teacher and mentor. Her former students not only appreciate her high standards and unflagging support; they value her advice so highly that they continue to seek it years after completing their degrees. New faculty in the School of Natural Resources and Environment also recognize and appreciate her honesty and helpfulness; many have requested that she serve as their faculty mentor.”
“Prof. Khargonekar is the recipient of several awards including a Presidential Young Investigator Award in 1985, departmental Teaching Excellence Award in 1992, and a Research Excellence Award in 1994 from the College of Engineering,” said Stephen W. Director, dean of the College of Engineering. “In 1955 he was appointed associate chair of the department and Arthur F. Thurnau Professor; in 1997 he assumed the chairmanship of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Prof. Khargonekar has numerous refereed journal publications and has presented several invited papers and lectures. He has taught a variety of courses, both at the undergraduate and graduate level, in systems and control.”
“Prof. Mann’s current research focuses on letters of credit and on policies for payment systems used in electronic commerce,” said Jeffrey S. Lehman, dean of the Law School. “He also recently published a textbook, Cases, Materials, and Problems on Payment Systems and Other Financial Transactions. He teaches various courses related to real estate transactions, commercial transactions and intellectual property. He received his J.D. from the University of Texas at Austin, where he graduated first in his class and was managing editor of the Texas Law Review. After law school he clerked for Justice Lewis F. Powell of the U.S. Supreme Court and was an assistant to the solicitor general of the United States.”
“Prof. Neal’s area of specialization is experimental high energy physics,” Provost Cantor said. “Seeing unique opportunities evolving with the construction of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN near Geneva, he convinced his Michigan colleagues to join the international effort in Europe, with the result that Michigan is now the leading U.S. institution on this program involving some 150 universities and laboratories from more than 30 countries. Due to Prof. Neal’s influence, vision and administrative skills, Michigan’s position in the program is such that key detector components are being designed and built here in Ann Arbor. Despite an unusually heavy load of administrative duties, he has nevertheless taken time to mentor graduate students and is a fervent advocate of strong undergraduate involvement in research.”
“Prof. Pernick studies the history of value issues in medicine and the relation between medicine and mass culture,” said LS&A Dean Shirley Neuman. “He has written A Calculus of Suffering, on professional and cultural attitudes towards pain and anesthesia in 19th century America, and The Black Stork, on the forgotten history of eugenic euthanasia in American medicine and motion pictures. He plans to use the Hudson Professorship to write a new book, titled When Are You Dead? on the uncertainty surrounding the definition of death spanning the 1740s fear of premature burial to current debates over brain death.”
“Prof. Witter is well-known nationally and internationally for his research work on the population dynamics and impacts of lepidopterous defoliators, such as the gypsy moth, spruce budworm and forest tent caterpillar, as well as his extensive studies on the effects of multiple disturbances in urban and rural forests. He is also an outstanding teacher and mentor who is well-known for his great enthusiasm, rapport with students, and ability to make learning fun. He has a keen interest in helping students reach their full potentials and enrich their lives through learning. His formal teaching has concentrated primarily on undergraduates. He is very interested in making research results on forestry and insects available and understandable, both for the public and for professional land managers.”
Gifts
The Regents accepted $9,256,410 in gifts received during May. The total included $5,012,565 from individuals, $2,260,995 from corporations, $838,069 from foundations, and $1,144,781 from associations and others.
Tenure appointments
Faculty appointments, with tenure, approved by the Regents included:
Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, of Harvard Law School, will be professor of law, effective Sept. 1.
Bruce A. Mueller, of the Purdue University School of Pharmacy, will be professor of pharmacy and chair of the Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, effective July 1.
Edward A. Silver, of the University of Pittsburgh, will be professor of education, effective June 1.
Christopher M. Skinner, of the School of Mathematics at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, will be associate professor of mathematics, effective Sept. 1.
Faculty promotions
Faculty promotions approved by the Regents included:
Izak Duenyas, associate professor of operations management, with tenure, will be professor of operations management, with tenure, effective Sept. 1.
Mayuram S. Krishnan, assistant professor of computer and information systems, will be associate professor of computer and information systems, with tenure, effective Sept. 1.
Ron A. Astor, assistant professor of social work and of education, will be associate professor of social work, with tenure, and associate professor of education, without tenure, effective Sept. 1.
Gift in trust
The University announced receipt of a gift in trust from alumnus Lincoln M. Knorr. The trust is initially funded with assets of approximately $30 million.
The University will receive periodic distributions from the trust, to be made on a long-term basis by Bank One, the trustee. The University will not expend its distributions until the final settlement of the trust, when it will receive the remaining trust balance, unless the president of the University determines that an extraordinary need exists.
Knorr, who died in 1998, set up the trust to create a significant increase in the endowment funds of the University as his contribution to the public good, which he believed the University achieves.
Knorr, who was born in 1924, was a graduate of the Business School and Law School. While at the University, he was a member of the Delta Sigma Pi professional fraternity organized to foster the study of business. He practiced law for a brief time after graduation and later started a business with two partners. The Scott Equipment Co. manufactures machines that bond plastic tabs for indexes. The business sells machinery to commercial binderies throughout the world.
Building projects
The Regents approved these building projects:
“Soil conditions at the site were going to necessitate the utilization of expensive footings. The College of Engineering concluded that if a 10,000-square-foot basement were built under the building, the structural needs would be addressed and important research space needs that would otherwise necessitate the construction of other new space could be addressed. The newly created basement space would house research functions for the Department of Materials Science and Engineering.
“Therefore, to save money and address academic needs, the additional below-grade space has been designed. The entire project is estimated to cost $9.7 million. Funding will be provided from College of Engineering funds, in addition to a gift of $5 million from the Gerstacker Foundation.
“This project will have minimal impact on parking since faculty and staff will be relocating from other College of Engineering buildings in this area.”
