Dr. Rebecca L. Files (left) was named the Sydney Smith Hicks Faculty Fellow at the 2015 Investiture Ceremony. The position was created through a gift by Dr. Sydney Smith Hicks (right).
UT Dallas will recognize the accomplishments of five recently endowed faculty members at an Investiture Ceremony and reception on Tuesday.
Generally regarded as the highest academic honor that the University can bestow on a professor, endowed chairs or professorships recognize the contributions of senior-level faculty members and provide their programs with funds to excel their scholarship by supporting research and creating opportunities for collaboration with scholars at other institutions.
The ceremony also will honor the various donors who established the endowed positions, which play a critical role in advancing the faculty members’ instructional programs and research.
“The investiture ceremony offers us the opportunity to learn more about these accomplished faculty members and their important contributions to research and instruction,” said acting provost Dr. Inga Musselman. “UT Dallas benefits greatly from the generosity of those investing in the future accomplishments of endowed professors as well as the future of the University, and their contributions are critical to recruiting the talented faculty members who help advance the groundbreaking research at UT Dallas.”
“UT Dallas benefits greatly from the generosity of those investing in the future accomplishments of endowed professors as well as the future of the University, and their contributions are critical to recruiting the talented faculty members that help advance the groundbreaking research at UT Dallas.”
Dr. Inga Musselman,
acting provost
With more than 100 endowed professorships, UT Dallas takes part in one of the oldest traditions in academia. Honorees and ceremonial participants don full academic regalia, and honorees receive medallions to recognize their work.
The event will be held at 2 p.m. in the Naveen Jindal School of Management Executive Dining Room. The University community is encouraged to join the honored faculty members’ families and special guests at the ceremony.
The faculty members who will be invested hold professorships and chairs in the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science, the School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences, the Naveen Jindal School of Management and the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences.
Dr. David McPhail, a newly appointed chemistry professor who conducts research in conservation science, will be among those recognized Tuesday.
“It is a great honor to be appointed as the Distinguished Chair of Conservation Science in the Edith O’Donnell Institute of Art History and as a professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry in the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics,” McPhail said.
“The research culture at UT Dallas strongly supports and encourages collaborative studies at the intersection of the traditional subject disciplines such as science, engineering, art and the humanities. It provides me with the perfect environment to develop a new conservation science research program in partnership with the local museums in the Dallas-Fort Worth corridor. I am delighted to have this fantastic opportunity.”