Endowed professorships help enrich the life of the mind
An endowed professorship is one of the most prestigious academic honors given to a faculty member. It's a living, lasting testimonial to the donor's belief in the importance of sustaining the vibrant intellectual community that is at the core of a strong liberal arts institution.
That vibrancy can't happen without great faculty.
"Endowed professorships recognize outstanding scholar-teachers, faculty members who inspire their classes through exemplary teaching, which includes working closely with students on research projects," observes Therese McCarty, interim dean of faculty. "They also are accomplished scholars in their fields, which is an essential foundation for their excellence."
Endowed professors touch the lives of not only their students, but their colleagues, as well, and help cultivate a campus climate of academic integrity, engagement, innovation and creativity.
On the following pages, Accolades celebrates the gifts that have created new professorships during the You are Union campaign and the faculty who are reaping the benefits of their donors' vision and generosity.
Dwane W. Crichton Professor of Philosophy: Raymond Martin
Dwane Crichton '33, a native of Canastota, N.Y., earned a B.A. in English at Union where he was manager of the swim team and a member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity. He spent three years as a U.S. Army corporal during World War II and was an industrial relations manager at the American Can Co. in Fairport, N.Y., from which he retired in 1970. An avid golfer, he and his wife, Mary Elizabeth (Sill), lived in New Smyrna Beach, Fla. He died in 1996, followed by his wife in 2000. This professorship was established with proceeds from separate trusts established by the Crichtons; both gifts were unrestricted. Over the years, the couple gave a total of $4 million to the College.
Raymond Martin, Philosophy Department chair, holds a Ph.D. from the University of Rochester and was a professor and director of graduate studies in the Philosophy Department at the University of Maryland for many years before joining Union in 2002. The author and editor of several books, including "Self-Concern: An Experiential Approach to What Matters in Survival," he has focused his research on personal identity theory and the philosophy of history. He is the co-author of "The Rise and Fall of the Soul and Self: An Intellectual History of Personal Identity" (Columbia University Press, 2006), an interdisciplinary exploration of theories of self and personal identity from the ancient Greeks to present day.
Joseph C. Driscoll Professor of Sociology and Marine Policy: Ilene Kaplan
A native of Wilmington, Del., Joseph Driscoll graduated from Union with a B.A. in 1932 and earned his M.D. at Albany Medical College in 1935. He entered private practice in Schenectady in 1938. He was awarded the Bronze Star for heroism and five battle stars during the Battle of the Bulge for his U.S. Army service in World War II (1942-45). Driscoll returned to private practice in Schenectady until his retirement in 1978 and then served as the examining physician for the Workers Compensation Board.
Ilene Kaplan, who holds a Ph.D. in sociology from Princeton, is chair of the Sociology Department and a guest investigator at the Marine Policy Center of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution on Cape Cod, Mass. Her recent research includes a longitudinal study on marine policy, co-management and socio-economic trends in New England's fishing communities. She has received many prestigious research grants and appointments, presented at international and national conferences, and published in leading journals in her field. She helped develop the Marine Studies Term Abroad.
William D. Williams Professor of Classics: Hans-Friedrich O. Mueller
William D. Williams '32 earned his B.S. in Electrical Engineering at Union, where he was a member of the national honor society Eta Kappa Nu. An accomplished violinist and longtime resident of Scotia, N.Y., he also studied at Duke and Cornell universities. After graduating from Union, he joined General Electric, where he was manager of the Magnetics Section and worked in the engineering lab. He retired in 1954. Williams was a loyal donor to the College, contributing annually, and in 1987, he donated a copy of Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Men of Our Times" to Schaffer Library. Williams died in October 2005 at 95, leaving behind a $20 million estate. His unrestricted gift of more than $7 million to Union is one of the College's largest individual gifts.
Hans-Friedrich Mueller (Molinarius), Classics Department chair, holds a Ph.D. in classical philology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He held a postdoctoral fellowship at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences in Munich, Germany, where he contributed articles (in Latin) to the "Thesaurus Linguae Latinae." He is the author of "Roman Religion in Valerius Maximus" (Routledge) and has edited a new abridgment of Edward Gibbon's "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" (Random House). His research interests are Greek and Latin literature and Roman history and religion.
William D. Williams Professor of Mathematics: William Zwicker
William Zwicker holds a Ph.D. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His fields of interest and research include mathematical logic, especially set theory, applications to political science, game theory, voting and political power, social choice theory and fair division. He is the author, with Mathematics Professor Alan Taylor, of "Simple Games: Desirability Relations, Trading Pseudoweightings" (Princeton University Press, 1999).
William D. Williams Professor of Philosophy: Robert B. Baker
Robert B. Baker, who holds a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota, is chair of the Alden March Bioethics Institute and director of the Center of Bioethics and Clinical Leadership in Albany, N.Y. A consultant on ethics and medical ethics, he recently worked with archivists on a documentary history of American medical ethics for Georgetown University Press. He is the author of "The American Medical Ethics Revolution" (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000), and chair of the American Society of Bioethics and Humanities Affinity Group on the History of Medical Ethics.
Henry and Sally Schaffer Professor of Holocaust and Jewish Studies: Stephen Berk
Henry Schaffer was a self-made businessman, philanthropist and Union Trustee (1953-82). He left school at 13 to help support his family and later became an honorary member of Union's Phi Beta Kappa chapter. During the Great Depression, he opened the first self-service store in Schenectady, which grew into the Empire chain of 31 supermarkets. He retired in 1958. Though not a Union alumnus, he was the principal benefactor of Schaffer Library, and he funded a scholarship in memory of his younger brother, Morris Schaffer '14, as well as several College fellowships. The College also has received several grants from the Schaffer Foundation. Schaffer received the Founders Medal in 1974. He died in 1982.
Stephen Berk, a member of the faculty since 1967, has earned an international reputation for his teaching, writing and research on Russian and Soviet Jewish history, the Holocaust, the American Jewish experience, anti-Semitism and the Middle East. He holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University and teaching awards from the organization, Holocaust Survivors and Friends. He has published extensively and is the author of "Year of Crisis, Year of Hope: Russian Jewry and the Pogroms of 1881-1882" (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1985).
David L. '39 and Beverly B. Yunich Professorship of Business Ethics: Harold (Hal) Fried
Albany, N.Y., native David Yunich, who died in 2001 at age 84, was a longtime R.H. Macy & Co. executive. He earned his A.B. in Economics in 1939 and an M.B.A. from Harvard University in 1941, with an honorary LL.D. from Union in 1964. Yunich was president of Student Council; managing editor of the Garnet; and a member of Kappa Nu, the Debating Club, International Relations Club and the varsity baseball team. He won the Bailey Cup for distinguished service. From 1939-40, he played professional baseball for the Cincinnati Reds farm system. A former Union Trustee, he and his wife, artist Beverly F. Blickman, lived in Scarsdale and Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
Hal Fried holds a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His areas of expertise include efficiency measurement and productivity, and applied microeconomics. In 2004, he created a class on "The Mind of the Entrepreneur," focusing on entrepreneurship from a liberal arts perspective, including entrepreneurial thinking, resource allocation in a market economy and the contributions entrepreneurs make to the economy. He and Philosophy Professor Robert Baker also expanded a pilot project on ethics into a college-wide initiative, making ethics a staple of classroom discussion across disciplines.
John '38 and Jane Wold Professorship in Religious Studies: Peter Ross Bedford
Union benefactor John Wold, geologist and former U.S. Congressman from Casper, Wyo., made his fortune through mineral and oil discoveries. The president of World Trona Company and Gastech Inc., he and his wife, Schenectady native Jane (Pearson) Wold, gave $20 million to the College in 2003, an endowment commitment that includes support for numerous programs, including the Religious Studies professorship. A Trustee Emeritus and Eliphalet Nott Medal winner, Wold is the son of former Physics Chair Peter Wold. As an undergraduate, he was a St. Andrews University Exchange Scholar and member of the varsity hockey team and Sigma Xi, the national honorary society for scientific research. He earned an A.B. degree in geology from Union and an M.S. from Cornell University. He is honorary co-chair of the $200 million You are Union campaign.
Peter Ross Bedford, associate professor of Religious Studies and History at Edith Cowan University in Australia, has been named the first John and Jane Wold Professor of Religious Studies. He officially joins Union Sept. 1. Bedford, who has taught classes in Christianity, Islam and Judaism, will direct an interdisciplinary program in Religious Studies, teaching a broad range of courses. He holds a B.A. from the University of Sydney and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Chicago's Department of Near East Languages and Civilizations, where he specialized in the history of ancient Syria-Palestine. A prolific scholar, he has authored dozens of book chapters, articles and technical reports.