Campus honors eight faculty with named professorships

Eight professors have been honored with named professorships.

Vilas Research Professor
Paul Rabinowitz, the E.B. Van Vleck Professor of Mathematics, has received one of UW–Madison’s most prestigious honors: The Board of Regents approved his appointment as a Vilas Research Professor.

Created to advance learning, Vilas Research Professorships are awarded to faculty members whose research is recognized nationally and internationally as exceptional. Rabinowitz’s research interests include the calculus of variations, partial differential equations, dynamical systems and their applications.

His honors include election in 1998 to the National Academy of Sciences, the 1998 Birkhoff Prize in Applied Mathematics of the American Mathematical Society and the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, an honorary doctorate from the University of Paris (1992), membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the 1984 Colloquium Lectures of the American Mathematics Society, a 1978-79 Guggenheim Fellowship and an invited address at the 1978 International Congress of Mathematicians.

Rabinowitz serves on the editorial boards of several journals, is a member of the scientific board of the American Institute of Mathematics, and served as chair of the Pure Mathematics section of the National Academy of Sciences. Rabinowitz, who earned his doctorate in 1966 from New York University, joined the UW–Madison faculty in 1969.

UW Foundation Chair Bascom Professors
Four professors have been appointed UW Foundation Chair Bascom Professorships, which honor former chairs of the UW Foundation board. These professorships recognize faculty for their balanced contributions to the university’s teaching, research and service. The four are:

Richard Brualdi, mathematics, whose research interests include combinatorics, graph theory and linear algebra/matrix theory. He was chair of the Department of Mathematics from 1993-99, and received the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1986. He serves on the College of Letters and Science Academic Planning Council and was chair of the L&S Curriculum Committee.

H. Hill Goldsmith, psychology, examines human emotional development and the behavioral challenges of childhood, including such topics as anxiety, attention deficit-hyperactive disorder and the autism spectrum. A leading theorist of human temperament, Goldsmith investigates genetic influences on behavioral and physiological traits. Goldsmith takes on leadership roles in the Department of Psychology, and he trains more than 20 undergraduates per year.

Judith W. Leavitt, medical history, history of science and women’s studies, examines the intersection of science and society in the context of 19th and 20th century public and women’s health. She has served as Department of Medical History and Bioethics chair, as admissions committee chair and as an associate dean for the Medical School, and on the Faculty Senate’s University Committee. She recently received a Hilldale Award (see story above).

Marsha Mailick Seltzer, social work and Waisman Center director, is an expert on how developmental disabilities affect families over time, examining how lifelong caregiving influences the well-being of parents and siblings of individuals with disabilities, including autism, Down syndrome and schizophrenia. Seltzer serves on several campus and national committees and boards.

Class of 1933 Bascom Professor
Joseph Buongiorno, forest ecology and management, has been named Class of 1933 Bascom Professor, given for research, teaching and service. Buongiorno specializes in forest economics and management. He has contributed especially to the study of international forest product markets, and to the management of mixed-species uneven-aged forests.

Herbert and Evelyn Howe Bascom Professors
Integrated Liberal Studies has named two faculty members Herbert and Evelyn Howe Bascom Professors. The professorships honor contributions Evelyn Howe, emerita lecturer in ILS, and Herbert Howe, professor emeritus of classics and ILS, made to the Ford Scholars program in the 1950s, to ILS and to undergraduate education at UW–Madison. ILS gives the award every other year to individuals who make ongoing contributions to ILS and who have enhanced student learning. The two are:

Michael Hinden, professor of English and ILS, who oversaw a major restructuring of ILS as chair in 1980. He helped create the Global Cultures Program, the Bradley Learning Community and the International Learning Community. He holds several teaching awards recognizing individual and team achievements, including UW–Madison’s Distinguished Teaching Award.

Craig Werner, Afro-American studies, has won numerous teaching awards, including the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching and the Best Summer School Course for “Freedom Ride 2001: Sites and Sounds of the Freedom Struggle.” His research specializes in the relationships among African-American music, literature and philosophy.