SUNY News

Albany -- The State University of New York Board of Trustees today approved the appointments of four faculty to distinguished professor rank, as recommended by campus colleagues and SUNY Vice Chancellor and Officer-In-Charge John J. O’Connor. All of the distinguished rank appointments are effective immediately.

“The work of the SUNY faculty we honor today is multi-faceted and brilliant,” said SUNY Board Chairman Carl T. Hayden. “Their genius serves as a magnet in attracting students and scholars to our campuses and they are most deserving of highest academic rank the university can bestow.  My sincere gratitude and hearty congratulations go to them all.” 

“SUNY faculty who receive appointment to the rank of distinguished professor are nationally- and internationally-recognized scholars and scientists of the highest academic distinction,” O’Connor said. “Each of these remarkable individuals has met and exceeded the stringent requirements for this promotion and I commend the Board of Trustees for recognizing their talent and service by approving their appointments to distinguished rank.”

The Distinguished Professorship is conferred upon individuals at SUNY’s baccalaureate and doctoral granting institutions who have achieved national or international prominence and a distinguished reputation within the individual’s chosen field. This distinction is attained through significant contributions to the research literature or through artistic performance or achievement in the fine and performing arts.

The candidates’ work must be of such character that the individuals’ presence will elevate the standards of scholarship of colleagues both within and beyond the individual’s academic field. It must also be of such quality that students and scholars on other SUNY campuses could and do benefit by lectures and seminars, or other appropriate presentations the faculty members might bring to them.

Appointment constitutes a promotion to the SUNY’s highest academic rank and is conferred solely by the SUNY Board of Trustees. The expectation is that individuals so appointed will be accorded such support as is appropriate to the individual’s academic endeavor, consistent with the resources of the campus, including a salary above the mean salary for full professors.

Donald Quataert, Binghamton University – Professor Quataert is a preeminent authority on Ottoman history.  His research is marked by a concern for “history from below,” that is, for the non-elite groups, about which very little was known before his scholarship.  His research has helped to free Ottoman history from overemphasis on the state and state elites.  He has done this by thoughtfully selecting his research topics, discovering and translating heretofore unexamined source material, as well as using unconventional analyses.  His work has resulted in seven sole-authored books, ten edited or co-edited books, and 40 scholarly articles.  His co-authored book, An Economic and Social History of the Ottoman Empire, 1300-1914, has been translated into three languages and has served as the scholarly foundation and standard reference for the field.  Professor Quataert’s textbook on Ottoman history has been adopted widely around the globe and translated into Turkish, Greek, Portuguese, Korean, Arabic and Italian.  His academic credentials have led to numerous leadership positions on educational foundations and to the multi-award wining dual degree program between SUNY and several Turkish universities.

Joan Copjec, University at Buffalo – Professor Copjec is internationally renowned for her writing on psychoanalytic, film, and feminist theory.  Her work is taught widely and has influenced disciplines from film studies and psychoanalysis to architecture, art history and ethics.  This work – including two major books, six edited anthologies, and more than fifty scholarly essays – has been translated into eleven languages, and she has lectured extensively around the world.  At UB, she is a deeply engaged mentor to graduate students and directs the Center for the Study of Psychoanalysis and Culture; she also founded and serves a faculty advisor for the highly regarded journal Umbr(a).  Professor Copjec has written extensively on psychoanalytic theorist Jacques Lacan in relation to the concept of evil, ethical behavior in times of crisis, religion (most recently Islam), film studies, love, shame, and other concepts of immediate concern to human behavior.  Her work foregrounds the importance of gender to understanding psychoanalytic patterns and response, and grounds itself culturally and historically as well as theoretically.  External evaluators claim that she has “redrawn the boundaries of the field(s) of Film Studies and Political Philosophy,” calling her “one of the truly brilliant scholars of our time.”

Daniel Dykhuizen, Stony Brook University – Professor Dykhuizen is an internationally recognized scholar who is responsible for developing bacteria as a model system for experimental evolutionary genetics.  This system has provided rigorous tests of evolutionary hypotheses, as well as offering critical oversight for overcoming seemingly intractable problems in fighting disease.  Dr. Dykhuizen’s early work in this field set the stage for many of the subsequent developments in the molecular biology and biochemistry of bacterial evolution.  He has trained some of the most outstanding and influential young scientists in the field.  His work on Borrelia, the bacteria responsible for Lyme disease has had major fundamental and applied significance, and may be of critical importance in designing future vaccines.  Other important implications of his fundamental research have led to better prediction of treating HIV and influenza, where pathogen evolution has presented great challenges to disease prevention and treatment.  Remarkably, Dr. Dykhuizen remains at the very forefront of research in the field of experimental microbial evolutionary genetics which he launched over 35 years ago, and which has grown exponentially in importance, influencing critical basic and applied medical research.

Keqin Li, SUNY New Paltz – Professor Li is known internationally for his prolific research and exemplary scholarship.  Eminent scholars have recognized his leading role in the development of parallel and distributed computing theory, particularly his application of deterministic and randomized techniques to the challenges of load balancing and scheduling.  Another area of contemporary interest and study is interconnection networks based on optical technology.  Dr. Li has developed optimal algorithms for reconfigurable optical networks that are considered “the best known in the world.”  Dr. Li is known for wide research interests and has been recognized as “one of the leading international researchers over many years in the areas of embedding, task allocation, performance evaluation, parallel algorithms, optical and wireless networks.”  His publication record is extraordinary.  To date, he has authored over 200 widely cited books, chapters, journal articles and refereed conference papers.  Dr. Li’s pioneering studies have inspired extensive subsequent work by numerous researchers and created a very active and productive research field.  In addition to his distinguished publishing record, Professor Li has provided excellent service and leadership to his discipline by chairing a number of leading national and international conferences.  His unwavering dedication to advancing knowledge has brought him international prominence and inspired colleagues and students at home and abroad.

Since the program’s inception in 1963, SUNY has appointed 794 faculty to distinguished ranks, as follows, including these most recent appointments: 262 Distinguished Professorships; 240 Distinguished Service Professorships; 290 Distinguished Teaching Professorships; and 2 Distinguished Librarian Professorships. For more information about SUNY’s faculty award program, please click here.

About the State University of New York

The State University of New York is the largest comprehensive university system in the United States, educating nearly 440,000 students in 7,669 degree and certificate programs on 64 campuses. To learn more about how SUNY creates opportunity, visit www.suny.edu 

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