Southwestern University Honors Brown Distinguished Professors

September 8, 2000

Two Southwestern University professors were honored as Brown Distinguished Professors at this year's Fall Faculty Conference. Professor of Art Thomas Howe was appointed to the position of Brown Distinguished Research Professor, and Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of English and Chair of American Studies David Gaines was awarded the Brown Distinguished Teaching Professor Award.

The Brown Distinguished Research Professorship Program assists the research and creative activities of persons on the senior faculty whose work contributes to the national conversation in their field of study, or has otherwise gained wide recognition. The term of the Professorship is four years during which the holder may receive financial support up to $10,000 annually to be expended on research and professional needs. Current holders of the Professorships are Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychology Jesse Purdy and Associate Professor of Political Science Eric Selbin.

Howe came to Southwestern in 1985 with a B.A. from Lawrence University and M.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard University. He served as chair of the Department of Art for seven years. He most recently published Vitruvius, Ten Books on Architecture. His current focus includes work on two book projects: The Order of Architecture, which will serve as a design text and concise history of the formal vocabulary of the classical "orders" of architecture; and The Juggernaut of Humanism: the Not-so-Empty Center of Hyperculture of Postmodernism, that examines the implications of Modernist and Postmodernist thought.

The purpose of the Brown Distinguished Teaching Professor Award is to recognize and encourage outstanding teaching at Southwestern. Selected from tenured associate and full professors, holders are named for a period of three years and receive a tenth month of pay to work together to develop a project that strengthens teaching. Current holders of the Award are Professor of French and Chair of the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures Suzanne Chamier and Professor and Chair of the Department of History Jan Dawson.

Gaines came to Southwestern in 1984 as a visiting Assistant Professor of English. He holds a B.A. in English from Stanford University and an M.A. in English and a Ph.D. in American Civilization from the University of Texas at Austin. In 1993, he was awarded the Exemplary Teacher Award by the Board of Higher Education and Ministry of the United Methodist Church. He has chaired the Department of English and the American Studies Program since 1989.

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