M E M O R A N D U M November 22, 2011 To: Members of the Board of Trustees From: Nancy L. Zimpher, Chancellor Subject: Appointment of Distinguished Professors Action Requested The proposed resolution appoints the faculty members listed below to the rank of Distinguished Professor at the State University of New York campus indicated. Resolution I recommend that the Board of Trustees adopt the following resolution: Whereas the State University of New York Board of Trustees has proudly established a historic tradition of acknowledging and honoring extraordinary faculty achievement through appointment to Distinguished Faculty Rank; and Whereas the appointment to Distinguished Faculty Rank at the state-operated campuses is both a system-wide distinction and a promotion in rank; and Whereas the SUNY Board of Trustees has the authority to bestow system-wide distinctions; now, therefore, be it, Resolved that each faculty member listed be, and hereby is, appointed to the rank of Distinguished Professor at the State University of New York campus indicated, effective November 22, 2011: Professor John Monfasani, University at Albany Professor Richard Salvi, University at Buffalo Professor Sanjay Sampath, Stony Brook University Professor Christopher Turner, Upstate Medical University Background Appointment to the rank of Distinguished Professor is conferred upon individuals who have achieved national or international prominence and a distinguished reputation within a chosen field. This distinction is attained through significant contributions to the research literature or through artistic performance or achievement in the case of the arts. The candidates’ work must be of such character that the individuals’ presence will tend to elevate the standards of scholarship of colleagues both within and beyond these persons’ academic fields. It must be of such quality that students and scholars on other campuses of the State University could and would wish to benefit by lectures and seminars or other appropriate presentations the faculty members might bring to them. The contributions of these scholars far exceed those mentioned in this resolution. Several important characteristics are omitted for brevity's sake. The candidates are also considered superlative teachers, setting the highest academic standards for their students. Beyond their scholarship, the candidates have contributed meaningfully and consistently in several notable areas, including extensive and superior service to the profession; leadership and ongoing participation on influential disciplinary committees; membership on prestigious editorial boards; service as reviewer or consultant on regulatory, advisory, and award-making bodies; and invited presentations at conferences and symposia. The following encapsulates their disciplinary accomplishments: John Monfasani – Professor Monfasani joined the University at Albany Faculty in 1971, and is currently a Professor of History in the College of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Monfasani is a world leading authority on Renaissance Studies, known internationally for his seminal and ongoing scholarship on the intellectual history of the Italian Renaissance. His first book, George of Trebizond: A Biography and a Study of His Rhetoric and Logic, is an enduring classic in the field. He is widely and highly admired for his prodigious output in the years since, and for his professional leadership as a champion for Renaissance Studies in national and international professional societies. He has received fellowship support from major funding sources, including the National Endowment for Humanities and the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation. He serves frequently as a reviewer for scholarly presses and journals, and as a consultant for funding agencies. Richard Salvi – Professor Salvi joined the University at Buffalo in 1987. He immediately established a state-of-the-art laboratory with an interdisciplinary team, mentored many students and contributed an enormous amount of service to the profession, the department and the University. In 1995, he co-founded the now world-recognized Center for Hearing and Deafness at UB. His main area of research is the auditory physiology associated with acquired hearing loss. He has investigated: noise and ototoxic drug – induced hearing loss, tinnitus, inner ear physiology, central auditory plasticity and reorganization, hair cell regeneration, and most recently, stem cells and genes that might be used to treat hearing loss. Dr. Salvi has published more than 300 articles in top-tier journals and is on 12 Editorial boards of national and international organizations. Dr. Salvi is known internationally, in part due to the large number of invited talks given, including in England, Italy, Sweden, France, Spain, China, South Korea, India, Brazil, and Saudi Arabia. Sanjay Sampath – Professor Sampath got his doctoral degree at Stony Brook in 1989 and came back as a faculty member in 1994. He has been the lead investigator on some $15M in competitive external funding, including NSF Centers, DARPA, DoE and DoD. He is also the founding director of the Consortium for Thermal Spray Technology – an Industry-University Partnership comprising of some 30 leading companies. Professor Sampath has 14 issued patents, 3 licensed patents, 150 journal publications, as well as hundreds of symposia publications and invited presentations. He has co-founded two Stony Brook based high technology spin-off companies – MesoScribe Technologies, Inc. and ReliaCoat Technologies, LLC. He has sustained outreach to middle and high school students through the Stony Brook NSF Materials Research Science and Engineering Center, and he established a one-of-a-kind K-12 outreach facility within its Center for Thermal Spray Research. Christopher Turner – Professor Turner, a member of the Upstate Medical University faculty since 1991, is recognized nationally and internationally for his research on paxillin – which he discovered – in focal adhesions. He has contributed to the understanding of cell adhesion molecules and how they signal the cell’s internal structure to regulate cell movement and growth. They are critical for development and contribute to the enhanced motility seen in cancer cells. With 12 national grants, he has had continual NIH support of his research activities since he started. His post-doctoral fellows and pre-doctoral fellows have also obtained national funding for work in his laboratory. He has published almost 100 original papers and reviews since 1991. He has served on many review panels for grants both in the USA and abroad, and continues to lecture throughout the USA and abroad, including in France, Austria, Canada, United Kingdom, and Italy. It is my pleasure to present these faculty members named in this resolution to the Board of Trustees for its approval. A copy of the President’s letter of support for each professor is attached. The letter highlights the individual’s major career achievements, and provides the campus rationale for recommending appointment. The full dossier is available in the Office of the Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs. Attachments 2 -3- Board Resolution November 22, 2011