UTD Honors Endowed Chairs, Professors at Virtual Investiture Ceremony

Eleven University of Texas at Dallas faculty members acknowledged their exemplary students and the cooperative spirit of the Comet community as they were honored at the 2021 Investiture Ceremony, held online June 24.

The professors — some of UT Dallas’ most influential researchers — were formally presented with endowed positions. They represented the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences; the School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences; the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS); the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics (NSM); and the Naveen Jindal School of Management.

Medals displayed on a table.

High Honor

Thanks to generous benefactors and corporate sponsors, UT Dallas has 138 chairs and professorships that recognize the scholarship and research of senior faculty members. Learn more about the honorees and the endowments on the chairs and professorships website.

University President Dr. Richard C. Benson described the ceremony as “a formal acknowledgment of our growing roster of outstanding faculty.”

“These appointments are given in recognition of the insights and passions that have grown from the professors’ years of research and teaching,” said Benson, who also holds the Eugene McDermott Distinguished University Chair of Leadership. “Investiture also marks a personal milestone for each recipient and a sure point of pride for family and friends in attendance.”

Provost Dr. Inga Musselman, vice president for academic affairs and the Cecil H. Green Distinguished Chair of Academic Leadership, commended the honorees, saying they “serve as institutional leaders; conduct innovative research; mentor junior faculty, and graduate and undergraduate students; and help to attract the very best and brightest individuals to our university.”

Dr. Stephanie G. Adams, who became dean of the Jonsson School in 2019, was appointed as the Lars Magnus Ericsson Chair in Electrical Engineering. She called UT Dallas “an institution created out of innovation, inclusion and entrepreneurship — the same attributes used to describe Lars Magnus Ericsson.”

Adams announced that the funds from her chair will be used to create a leadership development opportunity for Jonsson School faculty via the Dean’s Fellows program.

“This initiative creates an opportunity for ECS faculty to direct a project of their own creation and to advance the Jonsson School around special topics,” she said. “I’m extremely pleased that two of our three inaugural fellows are leading projects on topics related to diversity, equity and inclusion.”

Dr. David Hyndman, the new dean of NSM, was awarded the Francis S. and Maurine G. Johnson Distinguished University Chair. He saluted the Johnsons — the first acting president of the University and his wife — for recruiting faculty to the new institution and creating “a caring and collegial environment for potential recruits and industry partners.”

Hyndman also briefly discussed his research: “As the human population approaches 8 billion and is expected to grow to nearly 10 billion, we need to understand our influence on the planet and provide the science that forms a basis for better policies and practices going forward. I look forward to a team at UT Dallas playing an important role in that.”

Dr. Bruce Novak, professor of chemistry, also received a Francis S. and Maurine G. Johnson Chair. The immediate past dean of NSM praised the graduates and undergraduates who make UT Dallas special.

“The success of a research program depends so heavily on these students, and we have marvelous students, and I can’t say enough about the stimulation that they provide as they progress through the program,” he said.

Angela Shoup BS’89, MS’92, PhD’94, who became executive director of the Callier Center for Communication Disorders a year ago, officially received the Ludwig A. Michael MD Callier Center Executive Directorship at the ceremony. She thanked the Michael family, the Communities Foundation of Texas and the Callier Center’s benefactors for “ensuring that executive directors of the Callier Center will experience the support necessary to further excellence in clinical care, teaching and research in communication disorders.

“I had the opportunity to know Dr. Michael and observed his kindness, compassion and genuine interest and commitment to enhancing health care, especially for deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals. Dr. Michael’s many contributions have left a lasting impact, as evidenced through this endowment.”

Dr. Bhavani Thuraisingham, a pioneer in data security, added the Founders Chair in Engineering and Computer Science to her credentials. She celebrated the “rewarding day,” noting that two of her colleagues in the Cyber Security Research and Education Institute (CSI), Dr. Kevin Hamlen and Dr. Murat Kantarcioglu, were also being honored.

“That for me is the biggest achievement: to train and mentor the next generation of faculty at UT Dallas, because they are going to be around for a very long time. So I’m so honored and so touched,” said Thuraisingham, professor of computer science and CSI executive director.

Hamlen, who was named the Louis Beecherl Jr. Distinguished Professor of computer science, develops techniques to deceive online intruders and learn from their tactics. Kantarcioglu’s research focuses on developing novel techniques to protect the privacy and security of data continuously created and stored online. He was named the Ashbel Smith Professor of computer science.

Dr. Vladimir Gevorgyan, professor of chemistry, was named the Robert A. Welch Distinguished Chair in Chemistry. He praised the supportive atmosphere among UT Dallas researchers and hailed The Welch Foundation for providing some of “the most generous endowed positions available to chemists in the nation.

“They give the researcher a unique opportunity to tackle high-risk, high-reward projects, which is very difficult to do with other funding sources. I take it not as a recognition of past accomplishments, but as a motivation for future endeavors. So stay tuned.”

Many of the speeches had moving personal sentiments. Dr. Rodney Andrews, who has taken the title of Fellow, Vibhooti Shukla Professor of Economics and Political Economy, in addition to his appointment as associate professor of economics, thanked his mother, grandparents, wife, children and grandchild, saying, “You don’t make it from rural Georgia to this point without a lot of support.”

Discussing his research focus on the economics of education, Andrews said, “I have a sincere belief that people want to do better and that education is a steppingstone for them to do better. I feel it is my passion in my goal to produce research that allows for access and success for those who put forth that effort.”

Dr. Elena Katok, professor of operations management, was appointed to the Ashok and Monica Mago Distinguished Professorship in Management. She thanked her parents, Anatol and Svetlana Katok, who were both professors at Pennsylvania State University, where Katok received her MBA and PhD.

“My family came from the former Soviet Union in 1978, and I will always be grateful to my parents for taking this risk of moving to a new country,” she said. “If it hadn’t been for them and their decision to move here, I would not have had the tremendous opportunities that I had in education and having this wonderful career.”

Dr. Ted Price BS’97, who is now an Ashbel Smith Professor, also thanked his parents for “always prioritizing my curiosity, my passion for learning about the natural world and my desire to be a professional scientist.” He credited his grandparents, too, who taught him “that science truly is a universal language that is intrinsically interesting to everyone.”

He thanked the two UT System institutions that nurtured him, UT Dallas and the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, calling them “exceptional places for training, welcoming me to pursue my dreams.” Then he singled out his undergraduate and current home.

“It’s been an incredible experience to watch UTD transform since I first set foot on this campus as a freshman in 1993,” said Price, a professor of neuroscience and director of the Center for Advanced Pain Studies. “I am extraordinarily proud to call this university my home.”