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