Four highly accomplished Illinois faculty members have been selected to receive endowed chairs—the highest honors given to faculty on the campus.
"The reputation and accomplishments of this university are built on the outstanding work of our faculty,” Jones said. “These endowed chairs are a loud and clear public recognition of the scholarly and educational contributions of these four individuals.”
History Professor Antoinette Burton has been chosen as a Swanlund Chair. Her research interests are in modern Britain and its empire, colonial India, women, gender and feminism, postcolonial studies and world history. She is the Principal Investigator of the Humanities Without Walls Consortium and Director of the Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities. She is also a Guggenheim Fellow.
Nathan Gunn, a professor of voice, has been selected as a Swanlund Chair. Gunn is a renowned baritone performer who has appeared in performances at the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Royal Opera House, Paris Opera and more. He will be making his directorial debut and will sing the title role in the upcoming performance Don Giovanni at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts.
Stephen P. Long, who has been selected as a Stanley O. Ikenberry Endowed Chair, is a professor of plant biology and crop sciences. He is a fellow of the Royal Society, the American Academy for the Advancement of Sciences and the American Society for Plant Biology. He is also the director of the Realizing Increased Photosynthesis Efficiency (RIPE) project which recently received $45 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Jeffrey S. Moore has also been selected as a Stanley O. Ikenberry Endowed Chair. He is a professor of chemistry, and his research interests integrate ideas from physical organic chemistry and engineering with polymer synthesis. He is also the director of the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the American Chemical Society.
The Stanley O. Ikenberry Endowed Chairs were established in honor of the 14th president of Illinois and are funded by a generous gift from Geraldine B. Cooke and others. The Swanlund chairs were established by a generous gift from Maybelle Swanlund. The endowed chairs begin on Aug. 16, extend for five years and are renewable. They include a stipend and financial support.
Read the full News Bureau release here.