KU grants tenure, promotions to more than 50 ‘excellent’ faculty members

Their research contributions range from the social behavior of spiders to advances in new pharmaceuticals to the unknown matter at the far reaches of the universe.

Kansas University has announced the tenure appointments and promotions for more than 50 of its faculty and staff, and it’s a good group this year, said Susan Kemper, a KU distinguished professor of psychology who served on KU’s promotions and tenure committee.

She, like others on the committee, cannot talk about individual cases up for review, but said that, generally, it seemed like a stronger group than usual.

“I was just overwhelmed this year,” Kemper said.

Kemper said that the group likely represented a wave of people hired under a tuition enhancement initiative designed to bring in high-quality new faculty members.

The committee weighs a faculty member’s contributions to research and teaching.

“Usually you have to be excellent in one or the other and very good in the other,” Kemper said. “This year, they were excellent in both teaching and research.”

She said that, with KU significantly slowing its hiring because of budget constraints, the influx of new ideas would be slowed in coming tenure applications — which typically occur up to six years after the initial appointment.

Kemper said KU was in danger of losing this “dynamic infusion” of new ideas from younger faculty.

“They come with all these new ideas and make the rest of us better,” she said.

Promotions and tenure grants

To full professor

Brian Blagg, medicinal chemistry

JoAnn Browning, civil, environmental and architectural engineering

Geraldo deSousa, English

Charles Epp, public administration

Hume Feldman, physics and astronomy

Jie Han, civil, environmental and architectural engineering

Michelle Heffner Hayes, dance

Douglas Huffman, curriculum and teaching

Gregory Madden, applied behavioral science

Deborah Smith, ecology and evolutionary biology

Ward Thompson, chemistry

Thomas Tuozzo, philosophy

Elizabeth Weeks, law

To associate professor

Robert Bayliss Jr., Spanish and Portuguese

Shannon Blunt, electrical engineering and computer science

Barbara Bradley, curriculum and teaching

Nathaniel Brunsell, geography

Jae Chang, architecture

Chris Fischer, physics and astronomy

Philip Gallagher, health, sport and exercise sciences

Jennifer Gleason, ecology and evolutionary biology

Kirsten Jensen, ecology and evolutionary biology/Natural History Museum (to associate scientist)

Audrey Lamb, molecular biosciences

Jennifer Laurence, pharmaceutical chemistry

Xingong Li, geography

William Lindsey, religious studies

Jeremy Martin, mathematics

Laura Mielke, English

Jackob Moskovitz, pharmacology and toxicology

David Neely, music

Kristi Neufeld, molecular biosciences

Jennifer Ng, eucational leadership and policy studies

Jorge Perez, Spanish and Portuguese

Erik Perrins, electrical engineering and computer science

Emily Scott, medicinal chemistry

Aaron Scurto, chemical and petroleum engineering

William Skorupski, psychology and research in education

Brent Steele, political science

Carlton (Paul) Tucker, music

Leslie Tuttle, history

Margot Versteeg, Spanish and Portuguese

Douglas Ward, journalism

Robert Ward IV, molecular biosciences

Jennifer Weber, history

Michael Zogry, religious studies

Award of tenure

Mary Morningstar, special education

To full librarian

Judith Emde, University Libraries

Research and graduate studies

Mary Adair, Biodiversity Institute, to senior curator

Andrew Bentley, Biodiversity Institute, to associate specialist

Zachary Falin, Biodiversity Institute, to senior specialist

Lawrence Hoyle, Institute for Policy and Social Research, to senior scientist