Eight Bowdoin Professors Appointed To Endowed Chairs

Press release from Bowdoin College:

Published February 16, 2021 by Tom Porter

Eight Bowdoin professors (including two assistant professors) from a variety of fields, including mathematics, environmental studies, and government, are among those being appointed to endowed chairs.

The appointments, which are effective immediately, were announced by President Clayton S. Rose in a letter sent to each of the candidates on February 12, 2021. “I make this appointment on the recommendation of the dean and after consulting with the senior members of the Committee on Appointments, Promotion, and Tenure,” he wrote. Those who hold named chairs are entitled to draw funds for the support of research and teaching in an amount up to four thousand dollars per year, beginning July 1, 2021.

Meet the eight professors:

Chryl Laird is appointed the Marvin H. Green Jr. Assistant Professor of Government. The appointment concludes upon completion of her successful promotion to associate professor, with tenure. Laird, who is on leave for the 2020–2021 academic year, specializes in American politics, with a focus on race and ethnic politics and political psychology.

Adam Levy is appointed the Viola Ward Brinning and Elbert Calhoun Brinning Professor of Mathematics. Levy’s research interests include optimization, variational analysis, and numerical methods. He enjoys teaching these subjects as well as multivariable calculus and linear algebra. "Optimization pulls in people who like math,” he says, “but also people who like to solve real problems they can recognize from their daily lives.”

Collin Roesler is appointed the William R. Kenan Professor of Earth and Oceanographic Science. Her research interests focus on response of ocean ecosystems to environmental forcing. Over the past three decades, Roesler, who is on leave for the 2020–2021 academic year, has spent over three hundred days at sea, including more than ninety days on Antarctic icebreakers. Additionally, she has spent about forty days on sea ice field stations in the Arctic.

Vyjayanthi Selinger is appointed the Stanley F. Druckenmiller Associate Professor of Asian Studies. The appointment concludes on June 30, 2026, or upon completion of her successful promotion to full professor, whichever is sooner. Born and raised in India, Selinger moved to the United States to pursue doctoral work in Japanese literature and culture. Her research examines literary representations of conflict in medieval Japan.

Jennifer Taback is appointed the Wing Professor of Mathematics. Taback’s research lies at the intersection of algebra and geometry, focusing on metric and combinatorial properties of infinite groups. A thread common to her research and teaching is that highly theoretical mathematics has profound applications to questions important in today’s world. Taback participates in many outreach activities and runs the Bowdoin College Math Circle with a colleague.

Shu-chin Tsui is appointed the Bowdoin Professor of Asian Studies. Tsui, who is also a professor of cinema studies, pursues research across a number of interdisciplinary fields, including film studies, cultural studies, and visual art studies, with a focus on gender politics. Among the courses she teaches this semester is Going Viral: The Cinema of Pandemics.

Dharni Vasudevan is appointed the Stanley F. Druckenmiller Professor of Chemistry and Environmental Studies. Her research is concerned with the fate of synthetic and naturally occurring organic and inorganic compounds. Vasudevan’s work focuses on the mechanisms by which organic and inorganic compounds interact with mineral surfaces in soil and aquatic environments.

Hanétha Vété-Congolo is appointed the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures. Her research and teaching interests include Caribbean and African philosophy, postcolonial theory, and Francophone women’s literature from West Africa, Central Africa, and the Caribbean.

This press release was produced by Bowdoin College.The views expressed here are the author’s own.