A leading expert on Alzheimer’s disease and a longtime instructor known for his innovative teaching methods have been named this year’s Chancellor’s Club professors at Kansas University.

Russell Swerdlow

James Orr

Russell Swerdlow and James Orr will each receive $10,000 and be honored at the Sept. 26 Chancellor’s Club celebration. The Chancellor’s Club was formed in 1977 by the Kansas University Endowment, the fund-raising arm for KU.

Swerdlow directs KU’s Alzheimer’s Disease Center and Neurodegenerative Disorders Program and treats patients at KU’s Memory Disorders Clinic.

In nominating Swerdlow, Dr. Richard Barohn, chair of the Department of Neurology, described him as a “unique phenomenon in academic neurology.”

“Dr. Swerdlow has positioned KU Medical Center to be one of the premier clinical translational and basic science research and education programs in the U.S.,” Barohn said. “He is clearly one of KU’s premier physician-scientists.”

Orr, who has taught at KU since 1975, is a professor in the Department of Molecular Biosciences and served as KU’s chair of the division of biological sciences from 1992 to 2006.

While instructing more than 800 students each year, Orr uses innovative classroom approaches, such as in-class skits and small group activities, to maximize student learning. His research centers on the investigation of neural control mechanisms that regulate heart, lung and blood vessel function.

In nominating Orr, Danny Anderson, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, called him one of KU’s “most outstanding educators.”

“He is consistently showered with laudatory comments from his students, a fact that is especially telling given the enormous student enrollment in his major classes,” Anderson said.