Two long-time Hamilton professors have been appointed to newly endowed chairs. Professor of English Margaret Thickstun has been named to the Elizabeth J. McCormack Professorship, and Professor of Sociology Daniel Chambliss has been appointed to the Eugene M. Tobin Distinguished Professorship. The announcement was made by David Paris, Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty.
The McCormack Professorship was recently established in part by a grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. In an e-mail to the campus community, Paris wrote: "I extend this honor to Margie in recognition of her 16 years of significant contributions as a Milton scholar, inspiring teacher, and tireless contributor to faculty governance on a host of elected and appointed committees. Her scholarly work includes the book, Fictions of the Feminine: Puritan Doctrine and the Representation of Women, (1988) with another book, Milton and Moral Education, now in process, as well as a number of articles, reviews and presentations on a wide range of authors and subjects. She is also a versatile and popular teacher who does several genres and periods, and has been an innovator in course development in Persuasive Argument and College Writing. Margie exemplifies the intellectual passion and pedagogical commitment of the liberal arts college professor, and Hamilton is richer for her role in our community."
Paris said, "The Tobin Professorship was recently established to recognize Eugene Tobin's 23 years of service to the Hamilton community. Dan Chambliss, whose three-year term as the Christian A. Johnson Excellence in Teaching Professor ends this spring, has been an award-winning scholar and outstanding teacher in his 23 years at Hamilton. In addition to co-authoring Making Sense of the World: Methods of Investigation (2003), Dan's 1996 book Beyond Caring: Hospitals, Nurses, and the Social Organization of Ethics won the Eliot Friedson Prize of the American Sociological Association. His earlier work, Champions: The Making of Olympic Swimmers (1988) won the Book of the Year prize of the United States Olympic Committee. Dan has also been a highly regarded instructor known for his innovative approaches to class discussion and oral examinations, and he has made a major contribution to our community through his leadership of the current Mellon Assessment Project."
