Three CAS Faculty Appointed to Endowed Professorships

Jane Knodell, Provost and Senior Vice President, along with the recommendation of both the selection committees and Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, has approved the appointment of three faculty members to the following endowed professorships: The Leonard and Carolyn Miller Distinguished Professor of Holocaust Studies, the Breazzano Family Green and Gold Professor, and the Richard and Pamela Ader Green and Gold Professor.

History Professor Alan E. Steinweis has been appointed for a five-year term as the Leonard and Carolyn Miller Distinguished Professor of Holocaust Studies. Steinweis specializes in the history of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust. A native of Brooklyn, NY, he received his Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he worked under the distinguished historian Gerhard L. Weinberg. He is the author of three books. In making her decision, Provost Knodell noted, “Steinweis is a distinguished scholar, exemplary teacher and has served the University well as the Director of the Leonard and Carolyn Miller Center for Holocaust Studies. I am delighted that we can honor Professor Steinweis in this way, and I am confident that the Miller family will be quite pleased with this selection.”

Biology Professor and Chair Jim Vigoreaux has been appointed for a five-year term as the Breazzano Family Green and Gold Professor in the Department of Biology. Jim received his Ph.D. from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. Vigoreaux researches the structural and functional properties of muscles that power oscillatory systems, namely the insect flight muscle and the vertebrate cardiac muscle. He uses classical and molecular genetic approaches to study the function of various contractile proteins of the indirect flight muscles (IFM) of Drosophila melanogaster. He came to UVM as an assistant professor in 1991 and became a full professor and chair of the Biology department in 2005. With unanimous support from the selection committee, Provost Knodell summed it up best when she wrote, “This appointment is a testament to Dr. Vigoreaux’s rigorous and productive scholarship, and his commitment and service as a mentor, and his outstanding service as a university citizen.”

Art History Professor William Mierse has been appointed for a five-year term as the Richard and Pamela Ader Green and Gold Professor. Mierse has written in American and European journals on Roman architecture and sculpture, Phoenician architecture, Greek pottery, and Mycenaean jewelry. He is completing a manuscript on Early Iron Age temples of the ancient Levant and has a secondary appointment in the Classics Department. Says Knodell, “Professor Mierse, a distinguished scholar with an international reputation, is an outstanding teacher and he has served the University well in a variety of administrative capacities.”