LAS Distinguished Professors

The Liberal Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor award was established in 2006 to commend exceptional faculty for their contributions to the LAS and UIC communities, as well as for their significant and sustained intellectual scholarship in their chosen fields. Each year, the Executive Committee of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences votes for superlative candidates in the humanities, social sciences, the natural sciences or interdisciplinary fields.

2009-10

Peter Shalen (PhD, Harvard University) is a professor of mathematics and one of the leading figures in low dimensional topology, a branch of mathematics that studies conceptual spaces called manifolds. He is also an affiliate professor at the University of Haifa, and a member of the International Advisory Board for Academic Freedom of Bar-Ilan University. His research interests are three-dimensional topology, hyperbolic geometry, and geometric and combinatorial group theory. He has served on the editorial board for Bulletin of the American Math Society and on several NSF grant review committees. With his work appearing in the most prestigious journals in mathematics, including the Bulletin of the American Math Society, Journal of Pure and Applied Algebra, and Geometric Topology, Shalen has contributed to nearly every critical aspect of geometric topology. At UIC, he has built a world class group in geometry and typology and attracted promising doctoral and post doctoral students.

Henry Howe (PhD, University of Michigan) is a professor of biology and a preeminent ecologist whose primary research tests dispersal limitation in tropical trees in the restoration of plant dispersal processes in southern Mexico. Recent projects include a large exclosure project at the Morton Arboretum that tested the effects of seed-eating by birds and foliage consumption by voles on the density, productivity, dominance, species richness, and diversity of synthetic tall-grass communities. Other projects along these lines involve rodent exclosures in Wisconsin, and several studies of the effects of burn season on the population and community ecology of tall-grass restorations. He is the co-author of Ecological Relationships of Plants and Animals, as well as the author of numerous articles that have appeared in Biotropica, Evolution, and American Naturalist. The recipient of numerous grants and awards from the likes of the National Science Foundation and the National Geographic Society, he currently serves as director of graduate Studies in ecology and evolution in the UIC Department of Biological Sciences.

Lennard J. Davis (PhD, Columbia University, New York) is a professor of English and disability studies. His most recent book Obsession: A History, published in November, 2008, explores the way obsessive-compulsive behaviors function within our society, both positively and negatively. The book received wide critical acclaim, including a place on the list of Chicago Tribune’s Top Five Books by Chicagoans in 2008. Davis is also the recipient of a Guggenheim Foundation Award, a Fulbright Award, and his book My Sense of Silence was nominated for a National Book Award. In total, he has written or edited twelve books. In addition to his appointments in English, Disability Studies and the UIC School of Medicine, Davis is also the director of Project Biocultures, a think-tank devoted to issues around the intersection of culture, medicine, disability, biotechnology, and the biosphere. His current interests include disability-related issues, literary and cultural theory, as well as genetics, race, identity and biocultural issues.

2008-09

Lawrence Man Hou Ein (PhD, University of California, Berkeley) is a professor of mathematics and a leading authority in algebraic geometry. Ein held visiting positions at Harvard Michigan and Hong Kong before joining the UIC faculty in 1989. An editor for Communications in Algebra, Geometria Dedicata, and Serdica Mathematical Journal, Ein has also served on several NSF grant review committees and delivered dozens of invited papers at universities across the globe.





Susan R. Goldman (PhD, University of Pittsburgh) is Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Education and Co-Director of the UIC Center for the Study of Learning, Instruction, and Teacher Development. She is a member of the Cognitive Division in Psychology and of the Language, Literacy, and Culture and Educational Psychology programs in the College of Education. Goldman’s interests are in learning and assessment in subject matter domains such as literacy, mathematics, history, and science and roles for technologies in supporting assessment, instruction, and learning. Current work includes research on a web-based diagnostic reading assessment system, learning from multiple information sources, and use of virtual agent systems to support language development in kindergarten and first grade children from both English and Spanish language backgrounds. Past accomplishments include research and development of several technology-based environments for learning and assessment, including the mathematics problem solving series The Adventures of Jasper Woodbury, and The Little Planet Literacy Series.

James W. Pellegrino (PhD, University of Colorado) is Liberal Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor and UIC Distinguished Professor of Education.  He also serves as Co-director of the UIC interdisciplinary Learning Sciences Research Institute. Pellegrino's research and development interests focus on children's and adult's thinking and learning and the implications of cognitive research and theory for assessment and instructional practice. Much of his current work is focused on analyses of complex learning and instructional environments, including those incorporating powerful information technology tools, with the goal of better understanding the nature of student learning and the conditions that enhance deep understanding.  He has authored or co-authored over 250 books, chapters, journal articles, and reports in the areas of cognition, instruction and assessment. Pellegrino's knowledge of cognitive science, psychometrics, educational technology, instructional practice, and educational policy has led to appointment as head of several National Academy of Science/National Research Council study committees.  A lifetime National Associate of the National Academy of Sciences, he was recently elected to lifetime membership in the National Academy of Education.

Roger P. Weissberg (PhD, University of Rochester) is a professor of psychology and education, and the president of the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), an international organization committed to making evidence-based social, emotional, and academic learning an essential part of preschool through high school education. For the past decade, Weissberg has been considered one of the country’s leading advocates for training scholars and practitioners about innovative ways to design, implement, and evaluate family, school, and community interventions.  Named one of the 2008 Daring Dozen by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, Weissberg has authored 200 publications focusing on preventive interventions with children and adolescents. He has written curricula on school-based programs to promote social competence and prevent problem behaviors including drug use, high-risk sexual behaviors, and aggression. The past president of the American Psychological Associations Society for Community Research and Action, he has also co-chaired an American Psychological Association Task Force on "Prevention: Promoting Strength, Resilience, and Health in Young People."

2007-08

Professor and Head of the Department of African-American Studies, Paul Tiyambe Zeleza (PhD, Dalhousie University) is the author of more than 20 books and countless articles and book chapters published in Africa, the Caribbean, Europe and North America.  His scholarship focuses on African economic, social and intellectual history, as well as development studies, gender studies, and diaspora studies.  He is also a short story writer, novelist, and literary critic. Several of his books have won awards including the 1994 Noma Award for A Modern Economic History of Africa (1993), the 1998 Special Commendation of the Noma Award for Manufacturing African Studies and Crises (1997), the 2003 Choice Outstanding Academic Title and 2004 Honorable Mention of the Conover-Porter Award for Encyclopedia of Twentieth Century African History (2002). He has raised nearly five million dollars in research and institutional grants from various foundations and public agencies. Currently, he is working on a global project on African diasporas in Asia, Europe, and the Americas, funded by the Ford Foundation. In fall 2007, Zeleza was elected president of the African Studies Association for the 2008-09 term.

Photograph of Roger P. Weissberg by Kathryn Marchetti and courtesy of UIC News.

Photographs of Susan R. Goldman, James W. Pellegrino and Paul Tiyambe Zeleza by Mary Hanlon.