The Esther M. Larsen Faculty Fellowship in the Humanities was established by Syracuse University Board of Trustees Vice Chair Christine E. Larsen G'84 to honor the memory of her grandmother. Esther’s passion for both poetry and education was passed down to all five of her grandchildren, as she taught Christine, her brother and their three cousins how to read at an early age. The fellowship memorializes Esther by enhancing humanities scholarship and education at Syracuse University.

The inaugural Esther M. Larsen Faculty Fellow in the Humanities is bestselling author and creative writing Professor Mona Awad. Awad, who has been a faculty member in the Department of English’s creative writing program since 2020, teaches a variety of writing courses, including the popular Art of the Fairy Tale. Her bestselling novel Bunny (Viking, 2019), was named a top book of 2019 by TIME, Vogue and others. Awad has published two other acclaimed novels: All's Well (Simon & Schuster, 2021) and 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl (Penguin, 2016).

Through this fellowship, Awad will work on two upcoming literary projects, one of which is connected to and expands on one of her previous novels, and another about fairy tales and fairy tale collection, which will involve a research component in Scotland.

Board of Trustees Vice Chair Michael Thonis ’72 and his wife Susan (Tufts ’80), have endowed three professorships in Earth sciences.

Thonis is co-founder of Charlesbank Capital Partners in Boston and serves as senior advisor. He earned his bachelor’s degree in geology at SU, a master’s degree in geology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and an M.B.A. at Harvard University.

Although his career path has gone through the financial world, geology remains an important focus for Thonis. “Earth science explains our world today in the broad context of deep place and time.” He adds, “Sadly, most Earth sciences departments are underfunded, so I do what I can to help SU’s department.”

Assistant professor of Earth sciences and Thonis Family Professor Tripti Bhattacharya, is an expert in climate science.

Bhattacharya’s work focuses on understanding the physical mechanisms that govern rainfall variability in the tropics and subtropics. To do this, she uses state-of-the-art methods in organic chemistry to reconstruct past rainfall. She also uses climate models to pinpoint the physical drivers of climate change over geologic time. This interdisciplinary work is at the forefront of the fields of paleoclimatology and climate physics.

To underscore their belief that the humanities are central to society, Allan ’55 and Anita ’60 Sutton created the Anita and Allan D. Sutton Distinguished Professor in philosophy.

Inaugural Sutton Professor Ben Bradley is a prominent scholar with expertise in ethical theory and philosophy of death. Bradley explores topics such as existential terror when contemplating future nonexistence and how to grapple with emotions concerning death.

What effect does future nonexistence have on the meaningfulness of our lives? How do we make sense of those kinds of feeling of terror? Death is never an easy topic to discuss, but Bradley’s research seeks to uncover why we feel the way we do and the rationality behind certain emotions toward death.

Duncan Brown, a world-renowned expert in gravitational wave astronomy and astrophysics, is the inaugural Charles Brightman Endowed Professor of Physics. Brown earned this recognition for his leadership role in the multinational Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) experiment, his excellence in teaching and mentoring, and his contributions to campus research computing. The three-year professorship is designed to recognize and support early- to mid-career physicists. Named for the physicist who taught at Syracuse from 1916 to 1950, the professorship was made possible by a $1.4 million bequest to the Department of Physics by Joseph and Charlotte ’37 Stone. Brightman’s teaching career also included positions at Wesleyan University, Mount Holyoke College, and DePauw University, where he was the first professor with a Ph.D. in physics (earned from Clark University in Worcester, Mass.).

The Professorship itself was established in1957 by three New York Conferences of the Methodist Church (Northern New York, Central New York and Western New York).  Rev. Charles Bollinger, then Director of Christian Higher Education of the Syracuse area Methodist Church spearheaded the effort, working with Chancellor Tolley.   The inaugural Professorship began in September 1958 with Dr. Harmon Bro as the first Ledden Professor.  The title was apparently emended because two years later, in 1960, Dr. Howard Ham was appointed the first Ledden Professor in Religious Higher Education. 

The Chair was named in honor of Bishop W. Earl Ledden who served as Bishop of the Syracuse area Methodist Church for 16 years.

The Safire Professor was established by Bob Menschel ’51, H’91 in honor of his friend of more than 60 years, William Lewis Safire ’51, H’78. The two met while attending SU in the late 1940s.

Safire was a speechwriter for President Richard Nixon before becoming a columnist for The New York Times. He won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 1978. He also wrote "On Language," a weekly column. In 2006, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George W. Bush.

A partner at Goldman Sachs, Menschel helped establish an industry model adopted by other Wall Street firms. A commitment to education and love of photography inspired him to create Syracuse University’s Robert B. Menschel Media Center, the Robert B. Menschel Photography Gallery and the Paul Volcker Chair in Behavioral Economics at the Maxwell School.

Shakespearean scholar Dympna Callaghan is the William L. Safire Professor of Modern Letters.

Published widely on playwrights and poets of the English Renaissance, she was president of the Shakespeare Association of America in 2012-13. She has written or edited more than a dozen books, and co-edited the volume “Shakespeare in Our Time,” to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. Among other projects, she is writing about the relationship between poetic fluency and freedom of speech.

She was named University Professor for her extraordinary scholarly achievement.

The Jack and Laura H. Milton Endowed Professorship was made possible by a generous contribution from the estate of Laura and Jack Milton. The Miltons graduated from Syracuse in 1951 and were longtime supporters of the University. Laura served as a member of the Arts and Sciences Board of Visitors for many years and Jack was a University Trustee. The couple’s ardent support has fostered numerous educational opportunities, events and lectures, and contributed to the construction of several campus facilities, including the Life Sciences Complex.

A renowned medicinal chemist with an interest in pharmaceutical drug development, Doyle’s cutting-edge research focuses on peptide-based treatments, which offer significant and consistent weight loss and glucose control but without common, negative side-effects such as nausea/vomiting. The professorship will enhance Doyle’s work in both the lab and classroom, where he and students are working to develop new drugs to treat diseases and syndromes including diabetes, obesity and cachexia.

Doyle joined the chemistry faculty at Syracuse in 2005, was promoted to full professor in 2014, and in 2016 was named the Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professor. He received a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Dublin and completed postdoctoral research fellowships at Australian National University and Yale University prior to joining the faculty at Syracuse.

Forster’s research and teaching center around modernist literature, twentieth century British literature and culture, digital humanities and media history. He is particularly interested in censorship, obscenity, the intersections of media history and literary history, and intellectual property. He is currently working on a book manuscript examining modernist obscenity debates in the context of the broader media ecology of the early twentieth century.

Bernard G. Rudolph was a Syracuse businessman and philanthropist whose activities encompassed both civic and religious life of the community. Like his father, Jay Rudolph supported the Judaic Studies Program in the College of Arts and Sciences, and provided the support needed to create the B.G. Rudolph Professor of Judaic Studies.

Ken Frieden is the B.G. Rudolph Professor of Judaic Studies and professor of Religion, English, and Languages, Literatures and Linguistics. He is an expert in the study of European and American Judaic literature. His research has focused on the cultural impact of Yiddish and Hebrew narratives through the lens of emerging modern literature and travel narratives in the eighteenth century. His book, Travels in Translation: Sea Tales at the Source of Jewish Fiction (Syracuse University Press, 2016), was the recipient of the Faculty Outstanding Research Achievement Award in the department of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics. He is also recipient of the William P. Tolley Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Humanities.

Giannini’s research focuses on relationships among the cultures of the Mediterranean basin, particularly between Italy and Egypt. He received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program fellowship during the 2024-25 academic year to teach and conduct research in Egypt. Through this project, he is exploring how the Egyptian environment shaped Italian authors’ reflections on nostalgia and exile.

Hebden’s research specializes in music and dance performance, gender and sexuality, and mobility politics (how the movement of people and information is regulated and influenced within a society). Her current work delves into the creative ways in which tufo dancers in Mozambique navigate political, economic and social challenges, by foregrounding aesthetic innovation, play and feminine beauty practices. In addition to her research on tufo, her secondary project on veteranos—night clubs for the elderly in northern Mozambique—examines listening, dancing and DJing practices to understand the relationship between aging, memory and care.

Heidi Hehnly is the inaugural Renée Crown Professor in the Sciences and Mathematics. A professor in the Department of Biology since 2018, her research specializes in the mechanics of cellular division and how and when cells in the body choose to divide. With this professorship, Hehnly looks forward to developing cross-disciplinary, STEM-based courses which will help Honors students explore and better understand the natural world.

Renée Schine Crown '50, H'84 is one of Syracuse University’s most esteemed alumnae. She is a life member of the Syracuse University Board of Trustees and a member of the College of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Advisory Board. On the occasion of her retirement from the University Board of Trustees, the Honors Program was named the “Renée Crown University Honors Program” in recognition of her outstanding contributions to Syracuse. Renee and her husband, Lester Crown, established the Crown Honors Professorships in 2021 in order to ensure that the best and brightest faculty would have the time and resources to teach in the Honors Program and mentor students while pursuing their research and scholarship.

To honor his wife’s legacy, Charles Bishop ’42, G’44 established the Beverly Petterson Bishop Professorship of Neuroscience at the College of Arts and Sciences.

Beverly Petterson ’44 graduated from Syracuse University in 1944, with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics. Charles had a master’s in chemistry. They both went on to earn doctoral degrees and led successful careers in teaching and research.

Beverly was known for her significant contributions to neurophysiology research and for her dedication to education. She was named Distinguished Teaching Professor at SUNY Buffalo in 1992. She continued to teach until a week before her death in 2008 at the age of 86.

Sandra J. Hewett held the inaugural Bishop Professorship in the Department of Biology and previously served as director of Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Studies. Hewett studies the molecular and biochemical processes that occur in the brain after injury. She is particularly interested in the function and dysfunction of astrocytes, star-shaped cells that provide physical and nutritional support for neurons.

William Bayard Heroy endowed the Jessie Page Heroy Professor of geology in honor of his wife Jessie Minerva Page Heroy. Today, the geology department is fittingly housed in the Heroy Geology Laboratory building.

Heroy discovered geology while attending Syracuse on scholarship in 1908. He left before graduating to work for the U.S. Geological Survey, returning later to graduate with a Ph.B. in the Class of 1909, and to marry his classmate, Jessie Minerva Page Ph.B ’08.

The research focus of Jessie Page Heroy Professor Gregory Hoke includes tectonic geomorphology, interactions between landscapes, climate and tectonics, and isotopic records of terrestrial surface conditions.

John Raymond French was a professor of mathematics and the first dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Syracuse University. In 1895, he was made Vice Chancellor to Syracuse University’s fourth Chancellor, James Roscoe Day, and served in the position until his death in 1897. A professorship of civil engineering was named in his honor, which is known today as the John Raymond French Professor of Mathematics.

John Raymond French Professor Tadeusz Iwaniec is an internationally acclaimed mathematics researcher. His work in the area of geometric function theory, nonlinear analyses and partial differential equations with applications to elasticity theory and material sciences, has been continuously supported since 1988 by the National Science Foundation.

Iwaniec has been recognized by several international awards—the 2001 medal and prize of the Henri Poincare Institute of Nonlinear Analysis; the 1997 Alfred Jurzykowski Award in the Field of Mathematics; and the 1980 Prize of the President of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

He is also the recipient of the Chancellor's Citation for Faculty Excellence and Scholarly Distinction.

Board of Trustees Vice Chair Michael Thonis ’72 and his wife Susan (Tufts ’80), have endowed three professorships in Earth and environmental sciences.

Thonis is co-founder of Charlesbank Capital Partners in Boston and serves as senior advisor. He earned his bachelor’s degree in geology at SU, a master’s degree in geology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and an M.B.A. at Harvard University.

Although his career path has gone through the financial world, geology remains an important focus for Thonis. “Earth science explains our world today in the broad context of deep place and time.” He adds, “Sadly, most Earth sciences departments are underfunded, so I do what I can to help SU’s department.”

Professor Zunli Lu is a low-temperature geochemist who studies the evolution of the earth-life system. He is particularly known for his work to reveal the redox state of the ocean in Earth’s deep past and how that relates to the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere, changes in global climate and circulation, and the evolution of life. He also works on local-regional freshwater resources and how they are impacted by human activity both at the surface and in the subsurface.

This professorship was made possible thanks to a generous gift from Kathy Walters ’73 and her husband, Stan ’72. The endowed position funds the research, salary and teaching of a physics professor specializing in quantum sciences. In addition to this professorship, the Walters also contribute to various other University initiatives, including the Walters Endowed Fund for Science Research, which supports faculty and student research in A&S.

Maloney, who joined the physics faculty in Fall 2024, is A&S’ inaugural Kathy and Stan Walters Endowed Professor of Quantum Science. His research specializes in fundamental theoretical physics, quantum information theory, black holes, cosmology and quantum field theory. He was previously the James McGill Professor of Physics at McGill University, where he earned the John David Jackson Award for excellence in teaching.

Lisa Manning is the William R. Kenan Professor and directs BioInspired Syracuse: Institute for Material and Living Systems.

Her research describes cells’ behavior in terms of the mechanical forces they exert on one another. Her approach has led to a new understanding of a whole host of biological processes that involve cells on the move, including embryonic development, wound healing and even asthma and cancer.

Bioinspired Syracuse brings together scholars who have related research interests. It supports multidisciplinary research into complex biological systems, developing and designing programmable smart materials to address global challenges in health, medicine and materials innovation. It is an institute for material and living systems, focusing on three key areas: drug discovery, smart materials and development and disease.

The Kenan Professor was created thanks to American chemist, engineer, manufacturer, and philanthropist William Rand Kenan, Jr.

Kenan felt so keenly about the importance of education that he stated in his will, “I have always believed firmly that a good education is the most cherished gift an individual can receive.” Directing $95 million of his estate in support of education, Kenan established the William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust and has endowed more than 85 professorships at colleges and universities on the East Coast, including Syracuse University, Columbia University, Cornell University, New York University and the University of Rochester—all in New York state where Kenan resided most of his life in Lockport, New York.

Karin Nisenbaum is the inaugural Renée Crown Professor in the Humanities. A professor in the Department of Philosophy since 2021, her research focuses on topics at the intersection of metaphysics and ethics in Kant, German Idealism, and modern Jewish thought. Through Honors classes such as Philosophy and Literature, Nisenbaum and students will explore the philosophical significance of literary works by authors including J.M. Coetzee, Stanley Cavell, Dostoevsky, Iris Murdoch, Martha Nussbaum, Shakespeare and others.

Renée Schine Crown '50, H'84 is one of Syracuse University’s most esteemed alumnae. She is a life member of the Syracuse University Board of Trustees and a member of the College of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Advisory Board. On the occasion of her retirement from the University Board of Trustees, the Honors Program was named the “Renée Crown University Honors Program” in recognition of her outstanding contributions to Syracuse. Renee and her husband, Lester Crown, established the Crown Honors Professorships in 2021 in order to ensure that the best and brightest faculty would have the time and resources to teach in the Honors Program and mentor students while pursuing their research and scholarship.

Scott Pitnick is an accomplished teacher and researcher, internationally recognized for his work in sexual selection, speciation, and the evolution of reproductive and life-history traits. In 2014, he was appointed the inaugural Weeden Professor, enabling him to continue his study and teaching of biodiversity and the fundamental nature of sex differences and sexual conflict. Since joining the Syracuse faculty in 1996, Pitnick has been awarded more than $3 million in grants, most of which are from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Along the way, he has founded the Syracuse University Center for Reproductive Evolution, directed the biology department’s graduate studies program, authored more than 70 scholarly articles and book chapters, and co-edited the book Sperm Biology: An Evolutionary Perspective(Elsevier, 2009).

Pitnick is an internationally sought-after lecturer, and his work has been covered by major media outlets all over the world. He earned a Ph.D. in zoology from Arizona State University before completing an NSF postdoctoral fellowship.

The Weeden Professorship was established by Jane Weeden (1922-2013) and Morris “Mike” Weeden ’41 (1919-2013), who was a lifetime trustee of Syracuse University, a member of the College of Arts and Sciences’ Board of Visitors, president of the Syracuse University Alumni Association, and chair of the University’s Corporate Advisory Council.

Former member of the University’s Board of Trustees and legendary Wall Street trader, Irwin Guttag ’37 and his wife Marjorie Vogel Guttag ’38 established the Irwin and Marjorie Guttag Professor of Ethics and Political Philosophy. The holder of the Guttag Chair is a leading thinker in the field of ethics and applies principles of moral behavior, justice and good and evil to political philosophy.

Guttag, who served as a lieutenant in the Navy during World War II, was associated with Kaufman, Alsberg, and Company, a New York trading firm, where he was a senior partner and then president before his retirement in 1988. An arbitrage specialist and a pioneer in options, Guttag helped found both the New York Futures Exchange and the Chicago Board Options Exchange. He served on the board of directors of the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange and the Chicago Board Options Exchange.

Guttag Professor David Sobel is best known for his extensive research on the connection between what a person values and what is good for her. Are options good for us, his research investigates, simply because we favor them, or must the options have their own value if they are to benefit us? Merely liking stuff, his current work argues, can make that stuff valuable for us even if it isn’t otherwise valuable. Consider the case of likings in matters of mere taste. But options can also have value independently of our attitudes—consider the case of knowledge—and the lives that are best for us involve recognizing and enjoying such values.

His From Valuing to Value was published by Oxford University Press in 2016. He is a founding co-editor of Oxford Studies in Political Philosophy. He has held residential fellowships at Princeton’s Rockefeller Center for Human Values, All Souls College at the University of Oxford, The Australian National University (twice), and The Centre for Ethics, Philosophy, and Public Affairs at The University of St. Andrews.

The Tolley Professorship was established in 1995 to ensure continued excellence in pedagogy at Syracuse. Underwritten by private donors and the National Endowment for the Humanities, the professorship has benefited hundreds of tenured and nontenured faculty members. The two-year appointment was named to honor Chancellor Emeritus William P. Tolley, who served as Chancellor of Syracuse University from 1942 until 1969.

Teres’ scholarship focuses on the public role of literature and criticism. His first book, Renewing The Left: Politics, Imagination, and the New York Intellectuals (Oxford University Press, 1996), explores the connection between the political left in the U.S. and initiatives aimed at fostering literary and cultural transformation from the 1930s through the 1970s. In The Word On the Street: The Academy and the Common Reader (University of Michigan Press, 2011), Teres advocates for the rejuvenation of literary and cultural studies through scholarship and projects that actively engage with the public. He previously served as director of the Jewish Studies Program and was the first faculty representative elected to the Syracuse University Board of Trustees.

Britt Tevis is a leading expert in modern Jewish history with a focus on American Jewish history and antisemitism in the U.S. She joined Syracuse University in 2024 as an assistant professor in the Department of History in the Maxwell School and as the Phyllis Backer Professor of Jewish Studies in the Jewish Studies Program. In her research and through her courses, she explores topics such as the history of antisemitism in the U.S., Jews and American popular culture, Jews’ efforts to secure legal rights, the challenges of integrating into non-Jewish citizenries, changes to religious practices and traditions, and the array of Jewish American culture.

Among her previous academic appointments, Tevis was most recently the Rene Plessner Postdoctoral Fellow in Antisemitism and Holocaust Studies at the Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies at Columbia University. She has a Ph.D. and a master’s degree in history from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a law degree from the University of Wisconsin School of Law, as well as a bachelor’s degree in Jewish studies and political science from the Rothberg International School at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

The Backer professorship was established in A&S in 2020 through a $1.5 million gift from the Phyllis Backer Foundation, which supports education and medical research organizations with an emphasis on Jewish-related causes.