Installation ceremony will celebrate achievements of six Grinnell professors
September 16, 2021 — Six Grinnell College faculty members will soon be installed for chairs or professorships that were established to pay homage to Grinnellians while supporting student academic endeavors.
The 2021 Installation Ceremony for Named Chairs and Professorships will take place from 11 a.m. to noon on Sept. 30 at Herrick Chapel, 1128 Park St. The ceremony will also be streamed live at grinnell.edu/livestream.
Herrick Chapel will host the 2021 Installation Ceremony for Named Chairs and Professorships on Sept. 30. This 2017 photo shows the start of a previous ceremony.
The six faculty members being honored are:
- Tamara Beauboeuf-Lafontant, professor of education, will be installed as the Louise R. Noun Chair in Gender, Women’s, and Sexuality Studies
- John Fennell, professor of philosophy, will be installed as the Wendell F. Miller Professor of Philosophy
- Leslie Gregg-Jolly, professor of biology, will be installed as the Douglas Johnson ’77 Professor of Biology
- Leslie Lyons, professor of chemistry, will be installed as the Luther and Jenny Erickson Professor of Chemistry
- Elizabeth Prevost, professor of history, will be installed as the Frederick Baumann Professor of History
- Hâle Utar, associate professor of economics, will be installed as the Sidney Meyer Chair in International Economics
The ceremony will include remarks from President Anne F. Harris, Interim Dean of the College Elaine M. Marzluff, and the newly installed faculty members. Current and former Grinnell faculty who hold named chairs and professorships also will also be recognized.
Unlike some schools where chairs or professorships are rotated among faculty members every few years, faculty members at Grinnell hold the chair or professorship until their retirement or departure from the College.
The Douglas Johnson, Luther and Jenny Erickson, and Frederick Baumann professorships are all new. The Louise R. Noun Chair was previously held by Mary Lynn Broe and Astrid Henry. The Wendell F. Miller professorship has been held by many faculty members over the year, most recently Alan Schrift. The Sidney Meyer Chair was most recently held by Jack Mutti.
Here’s a look at the origins of each named chair or professorship along with additional information about the recipients:
Louise R. Noun Professor of Gender, Women’s, and Sexuality Studies
The Louise R. Noun Professor of Gender, Women’s, and Sexuality Studies is named for Louise Frankel Rosenfield Noun ’29. With a lifelong commitment to social justice and feminist activism, Noun authored four books on the history of women and feminism in Iowa in addition to prolific work and service to promote civil liberties and progressive activism. Louise’s brother, Joseph Rosenfield 1925, established an endowment in her name at Grinnell College in 1985.
Beauboeuf-Lafontant joined Grinnell’s Gender, Women’s, and Sexuality Studies program in 2019. Her teaching includes courses ranging from women’s education to the concept of the mermaid across different cultures. Beauboeuf-Lafontant’s research explores embodied experiences of racialized gender. A recent project examined the educational philosophy of Lucy Diggs Slowe, who was a pioneering leader in student affairs administration.
F. Wendell Miller Professor of Philosophy
The F. Wendell Miller Professor of Philosophy was established in 1949 by F. Wendell Miller 1920. After graduating from Grinnell, Miller went on to Harvard Law School and practiced law in Chicago for the Santa Fe Railroad, eventually returning to Iowa to manage his parents’ farms and practice law in Rockwell City. Miller served as a Trustee of the College from 1949-1952.
Fennell has taught at Grinnell College for the past 19 years. His core teaching area is analytic philosophy. He studies the philosophy of language and specializes in the work of philosophers Ludwig Wittgenstein and Donald Davidson. In 2019, he published a monograph entitled A Critical Introduction to the Philosophy of Language: Central Themes from Locke to Wittgenstein, which provided a historical re-framing of the analytic philosophy of language.
Douglas Johnson Professor of Biology
The Douglas Johnson Professor of Biology was established in 2017 by John Chambers ’77. The classmates bonded during swim team practices and served as co-captains of the 1977 conference championship squad. Johnson majored in biology at Grinnell and was particularly interested in cell and molecular biology. As a lasting tribute to his late friend, Chambers created the professorship to support students like Johnson who wish to pursue careers in medical or health fields.
Gregg-Jolly joined Grinnell’s Biology Department in 1993. A molecular biologist and geneticist who studies DNA damage and repair in bacterial systems, Gregg-Jolly teaches classes in molecular biology as well as interdisciplinary, team-taught courses. She has mentored nearly 40 Grinnell student research assistants, coauthoring papers with many of them.
Luther and Jenny Erickson Professor of Chemistry
Led by Trustee Ed Senn ’79, the Luther and Jenny Erickson Professor of Chemistry was established in 2019 by a group of more than 35 alumni and friends who joined together to honor the Ericksons by making gifts and commitments to establish the professorship. Luther served as a professor of chemistry for 41 years while Jenny was director of the Forum for 20 years. Together they taught, encouraged, mentored, and supported thousands of students while also serving as pillars of the Grinnell community.
Lyons has been on the chemistry faculty at Grinnell since 1989 and was a colleague of Luther’s for 14 years. Her teaching topics have included inorganic chemistry and instrumental analysis as well as courses for the College’s Policy Studies Concentration. Lyons’ research focuses on electrolytes, a class of ion-conducting solutions that are vital to biological, environmental, and industrial processes.
Frederick Baumann Professor of History
The Frederick Baumann Professor of History endowment was established in 2020 through an estate gift from David Hammer ’51 and Audrey Lowe Hammer ’52. Frederick Baumann served on the Grinnell College faculty from 1927 until his retirement in 1954. He was regarded as a master teacher and scholar in history and this professorship was endowed to carry on that legacy and tradition.
Prevost has taught in Grinnell’s History Department since 2004. She specializes in the history of modern Britain and the empire, modern Africa, feminism, and women’s issues. Provost published The Communion of Women, a study of missionary women in Africa during the height of European colonialism. Her current book project explores the global popularity of Agatha Christie’s detective novels and their role in shaping “Britishness” during the 20th century’s decline in the stability and power of the British world order.
Sidney Meyer Chair in International Economics
The Sidney Meyer Chair in International Economics was endowed in 1985 through a gift from the Patricia M. and Emanuel M. Papper Foundation, with the intent to promote the study of international trade and finance at Grinnell College. Patricia Papper ’50 was a Grinnell College Trustee from 1983-2003. She established this chair in honor of her father, Sidney Meyer.
Utar joined the Economics Department faculty in 2019. Her teaching focuses on international economics; one of her recent courses was about the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on international trade. Utar’s research concerns the microeconomic impacts of globalization and how the larger economic environment and developments in international trade and technology affect businesses, manufacturing, and labor markets.
— by Jeremy Shapiro