Carolina’s newest distinguished professors

Carolina has awarded distinguished professorships to 50 faculty members from eight schools plus the College of Arts & Sciences. The University’s Board of Trustees approved 21 of the new appointments at its May 2022 meeting and the rest at meetings in March 2022, January 2022 and September 2021.

Appointment to a distinguished professorship is one of the highest honors the University bestows upon its faculty members. The honor recognizes faculty who have achieved distinction in their field or across disciplines.

Named distinguished professors are tenured faculty members who are awarded an honorary title with additional salary and research funds either to retirement or for a fixed period of time depending on the funding source.

The University now has a substantive number of named endowed professorships. This number includes professorships established by donors and supplemented with state funds from the Distinguished Professors Endowment Trust Fund, which was established by the North Carolina General Assembly in 1985 to provide grants for endowed professorships.

Conferral of this honor requires approval by the University’s Appointment, Promotion and Tenure Committee and Board of Trustees.

Listed in alphabetical order, the recipients are:

Adams School of Dentistry

• Kimon Divaris, Dr. Claude A. Adams Jr. & Grace Phillips Adams Term Professor, effective April 1, 2022.
• Carol Haggerty, Jim and Isabel Harrell Distinguished Professor in Family Dentistry, effective June 1, 2022.
• Valerie Murrah, Dr. Claude A. Adams Jr. & Grace Phillips Adams Term Professor, effective April 1, 2022.
• Tung Nguyen, Henry S. and Martha N. Zaytoun Term Professor in Orthodontics, effective April 1, 2022.
• Glenn Reside, Dr. Claude A. Adams Jr. & Grace Phillips Adams Term Professor, effective April 1, 2022.
• Lisiane Ferreira Susin, Jacob & Charlotte Freedland Term Professor, effective July 1, 2021.
• Rebecca Wilder, Dr. Claude A. Adams Jr. & Grace Phillips Adams Term Professor, effective April 1, 2022.

College of Arts & Sciences

• Juan Álamo, William Wilson Brown Jr. Term Associate Professor in Latin American Studies, music department, effective Jan. 1, 2022.
• Naomi André, David G. Frey Distinguished Professor, music department, effective July 1, 2022.
• Gregory Copenhaver, Chancellor’s Eminent Professor of Convergent Science, biology department, effective March 1, 2022.
• Jonathan Engel, Phi Delta Theta/Matthew Mason, physics & astronomy department, effective July 1, 2022.
• Kelly Giovanello, Bowman & Gordon Gray Term Professor, psychology & neuroscience department, effective July 1, 2022.
• Elizabeth Havice, Bowman & Gordon Gray Term Professor, geography department, effective July 1, 2023.
• Leslie Hicks, Sherman Fairchild Foundation Chancellor’s Science Scholars Term Associate Professor, chemistry department, effective July 1, 2022.
• Susan Klebanow, Zachary Smith Term Distinguished Professor, music department, effective July 1, 2022.
• Miguel La Serna, Bowman & Gordon Gray Term Professor, history department, effective July 1, 2022.
• Morgan Pitelka, Bernard L. Herman Distinguished Professor, Asian and Middle Eastern studies and history departments, effective July 1, 2022.
• Donald Reid, John Wesley & Anna Hodgin Hanes Distinguished Professor, history department, effective July 1, 2022.
• Patricia Rosenmeyer, Seymour & Carol Levin Distinguished Term Professor, classics department, effective July 1, 2022.
• Paschal Sheeran, Edwin Averyt Poston Distinguished Professor, psychology & neuroscience department, effective July 1, 2022.
• Gabriela Valdivia, Class of 1989/William C. Friday Distinguished Professor, geography department, effective July 1, 2022.
• Y. Claire Yang, Alan Shapiro Distinguished Professor, sociology department, effective July 1, 2022.

Hussman School of Journalism and Media

• Laura Ruel, James H. Shumaker Term Scholar, effective Sept. 1, 2021.

Kenan-Flagler Business School

• Christopher Bingham, Phillip Hettleman Distinguished Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship, effective Jan. 1, 2021.
• Riccardo Colacito, Sarah Graham Kenan Scholar, effective July 1, 2022
• Vinayak Deshpande, Mann Distinguished Professor of Operations, effective Jan. 1, 2022.
• Eva Labro, Michael W. Haley Distinguished Professor of Accounting, effective Jan. 1, 2022.
• Arvind Malhotra, H. Allen Andrew Distinguished Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship, effective Jan. 1, 2022.
• Bradley Staats, Ellison Distinguished Professor of Operations, effective Jan. 1, 2022.

School of Education

• Brian Boyd, William C. Friday Distinguished Term Professor, effective July 1, 2022

School of Law

• Joseph Kennedy, Brandis Term Professor, effective July 1, 2022.

School of Medicine

• Kevin Brown, Joseph P. Riddle Professor, otolaryngology, effective July 1, 2022.
• Vinay Chaudhry, Professor/James Howard Jr Distinguished Professor of Neuromuscular Diseases, neurology, effective Sept. 24, 2021.
• Joseph Clark, W. Paul Biggers MD Distinguished Professor, otolaryngology/HNS, effective Jan. 28, 2022.
• Stephanie Davis, Edward C. Curnen Jr. Distinguished Professor, pediatrics, effective Jan. 28, 2022.
• Katrina Donahue, Charles Baynes Wilkerson, Sr. MD, ’06 Distinguished Term Professor, family medicine, effective June 23, 2021.
• Scott Donaldson, Hubert E Hatcher Family Distinguished Professor, effective Oct. 1, 2021.
• Joseph Eron Jr., Herman & Louise Smith Distinguished Professor, effective Oct. 1, 2021.
• Robert Esther, H. Robert Brashear Distinguished Term Professor, orthopaedics, effective Sept. 23, 2020.
• Bradley Gaynes, Ray M. Hayworth, MD and Family Distinguished Professor in Mood and Anxiety Disorders, psychiatry, effective Feb. 1, 2022.
• Paola Gehrig, Dr. Catherine Sou-Mei Young Distinguished Professor, obstetrics & gynecology, effective Sept. 24, 2021.
• Jose Guillem, Roscoe Bennett Gray Cowper, MD Distinguished Professor of Surgery, effective Sept. 24, 2021.
• Trevor Hackman, Nathaniel and Sheila Harris Distinguished Term Professor, otolaryngology, effective July 1, 2022.
• Ganesh Kamath, Max N. Novich Termed Associate Professor, orthopaedics, effective Sept. 24, 2021.
• Nelson Oyesiku, Van L. Weatherspoon Jr. Eminent Distinguished Professor, neurosurgery, effective Sept. 25, 2022.
• Brent Senior, Harold C. Pillsbury III Distinguished Professor, otolaryngology, effective July 1, 2022.

School of Nursing

• Jada Brooks, Carol Morde Ross Distinguished Term Scholar, effective Nov. 1, 2021.
• Cheryl Jones, Sarah Frances Russell Distinguished Term Professorship, effective Sept. 1, 2021.
• Hudson Santos, Beerstecher-Blackwell Distinguished Term Scholar, effective Aug. 1, 2021.

School of Social Work

• Ramona Denby-Brinson, Wallace H. Kuralt, Sr. Distinguished Professor of Public Welfare Policy & Administration, effective Oct. 1, 2021.

The Well