The following took effect July 1:
Third-Century Endowed Chairs
The Sweet Family Chair
Awardee: Jeffrey Bary, associate professor of physics and astronomy, an observational astrophysicist who uses both ground- and space-based observatories to study the formation of stars and planetary systems. He engages his students in every aspect of observational work, which includes traveling to facilities in New Mexico, Arizona, or Hawaii. He teaches courses at all levels of astronomy, from introductory astronomy for non-majors to upper-level courses in astrophysics. He is author of a first-of-its-kind learning video game, At Play in the Cosmos, designed for collegiate-level introductory astronomy courses. He also serves as the University professor overseeing first-year seminars, Global Engagements, and Core Distinction. In addition, he is a frequent contributor to the core curriculum, teaching a course about the Galileo affair and the nature of science as part of the Core Scientific Perspectives component and Core Appalachia as part of the Communities and Identities component.
The Hurley Family Chair in Dialogue, Deliberation, and Decision Making
Awardee: Spencer Kelly, Charles A. Dana Professor of psychological and brain sciences, who has helped to shape the department curriculum with courses in cognitive neuroscience, language and thought, and research methods, including an online Great Course, Language and the Mind. The main focus of his research examines the interacting roles of body movements and language in communication and cognition, publishing numerous articles in psychology, neuroscience, and linguistics journals; and he has recently co-edited a book, titled Why Gesture? How the Hands Function in Speaking, Thinking and Communicating. Kelly has received multiple grants from the National Science Foundation, including one that led to the creation of Colgate’s Center for Language and Brain.
Appointments to Existing Endowed Chairs
Charles A. Dana Professorship Fund
Awardee: Carolyn Hsu, professor of sociology, whose scholarship has examined the rise of entrepreneurship and NGOs in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Her work has been published in numerous journals and two books. Hsu is currently part of a research team conducting a national survey in the PRC every two years to examine the ways that the relationship between citizens and the state has been affected by increased authoritarianism under Xi Jinping. Hsu’s contributions to the Colgate community are numerous and include service as chair of the sociology and anthropology department, co-authorship on two campus life survey reports, and membership on several elected and appointed campus committees, including the Committee on Promotion and Tenure and the pandemic Task Force for Re-Opening the Colgate Campus. Her teaching includes a wide range of sociology courses, a long-standing commitment to the Core Communities and Identities Program through her China course, and an extended study course that she co-teaches with Professor April Baptiste, Environmental Problems and Environmental Activism in China.
Harrington and Shirley Drake Chair in the Humanities
Awardee: Yukari Hirata, professor of Japanese and linguistics, whose research interests are second-language speech acquisition, computer-assisted training for the acquisition of second language speech, and the acoustical analysis of native and non-native speakers’ speech. Specifically, Hirata examines how non-native speakers learn to perceive and produce Japanese speech. She has published numerous articles and scientific studies, and she is currently associate editor for the journal Language and Speech. Hirata’s research has been supported by grants from the National Science Foundation and the Japan Foundation. At Colgate, she has served as chair of the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures and chair of the Linguistics Program; she teaches Japanese language and culture, linguistics, and language acquisition and is the founding co-director of the Center for Language and Brain.
Christian A. Johnson Endeavor Chair in Liberal Arts Studies
Awardee: Christian DuComb, associate professor of theater, whose research and teaching interests include the formation of racial, gendered, and national identities through performance and the relationship between performance and place. DuComb’s students consistently praise his passion for teaching and his wonderful ability to promote inclusive and lively discussion. His 2017 book, Haunted City: Three Centuries of Racial Impersonation in Philadelphia, traces the deep roots of the annual Mummers Parade through the city’s history of blackface masking and other forms of racial impersonation. Among his honors are the Cambridge University Press Prize from the American Society of Theatre Research (2012) and a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship to spend a year studying theater internationally (2001–02). His research has been supported by grants and fellowships from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Central New York Humanities Corridor, and both the Arts Council and the Research Council at Colgate.
The William R. Kenan Jr. Chair
Awardee: Douglas Johnson, professor of psychological and brain sciences, whose research initially focused on cognitive functioning associated with the use of various drugs and alcohol, then shifted to include their connections to educational outcomes and institutional policies. Johnson is a masterful teacher and has earned numerous campus awards, including the Phi Eta Sigma Professor of the Year, the Jerome Balmuth Award for Teaching, and the Colgate Alumni Corporation Distinguished Teaching Award. His teaching interests range from psychology core courses and summer opportunity programs for OUS students to research seminars and the Core Scientific Perspectives, Psychology of Sport and Exercise. Johnson is known for his generous service to the University, including directing the Center for Learning, Teaching, and Research, chairing the scientific perspectives component of the core, serving as associate dean of the faculty (now in his second term), and representing Colgate on the Patriot League Policy Committee.
Arnold A. Sio Chair in Diversity and Community
Awardee: Janel Benson, professor of sociology, whose research and teaching interests are focused in life course studies, particularly in the study of risk and resilience in early life. Recently she has turned her attention to the study of low-income, first-generation students and their experiences in selective colleges. In addition to articles in various journals, her most recent publication is the co-authored book Geographies of Campus Inequality: Mapping the Diverse Experiences of First-Generation Students (2020), for which she was awarded a Spencer Foundation grant. She is active in intergroup dialogue on campus and in a local nonprofit organization, A Better Chance, which focuses on economically disadvantaged students; she has also chaired the Athletics Committee. Her own multi-method scholarly work — both quantitative and qualitative — has informed her teaching as well; she teaches Social Research Design and Methods, Sociology of Education, Community-Based Research, and the research-based Sociology Seminar.