Dozens of UUP members this academic year have earned SUNY’s distinguished ranks for extraordinary research, teaching and service.

The Voice this month continues to highlight these exceptional educators. Below are eight more faculty members granted the highest rank the state university has to offer.

The distinguished professor rank is conferred on individuals who have achieved international prominence and are recognized for significant contributions to the research in their chosen fields.

The rank of distinguished teaching professor recognizes and honors mastery of teaching, as well as exceptional service to students and a commitment to furthering their own intellectual and professional growth.

The distinguished service professor rank is awarded to individuals who demonstrate substantial service to SUNY and the community at large. Their service over multiple years goes above and beyond that which is expected of them in the performance of their University duties, and brings their scholarly and research findings to issues of public concern.

“In their own way, each of these faculty members exhibit their dedication to teaching and shaping future generations,” said Vice President for Academics Frederick Floss. “They are indicative of the talent inherent within the membership of UUP.”

• Colin Drury, a distinguished professor in the department of industrial and systems engineering at the University of Buffalo, is universally regarded as one of the foremost experts in the field of ergonomics, the study and design of “systems of people and machines.” He has developed methodologies and tools that have led to substantially reduced lower back injuries in the workplace and has reduced the chance for human error in aviation accidents and injuries.

• Rodolphe Gasché, a distinguished professor in the department of comparative literature at the University at Buffalo, is widely recognized as the world’s leading philosophical authority on the work of French philosopher Jacques Derrida. A prolific scholar, he has authored 10 books and has published more than 120 articles and book chapters in leading philosophical and literary-critical journals and collections.

• Thomas Hemmick, a distinguished teaching professor in the department of physics and astronomy at SUNY Stony Brook, conducts research and teaches on experimental nuclear physics. He is a member of the prestigious PHENIX experiment at the Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, where he studies the collisions of heavy ions at high energies.

• James Hurtgen, a distinguished teaching professor in the political science department at SUNY Fredonia, has written extensively on the political philosophy of Thomas Hobbes, the American presidency, democratic theory and Herman Melville. His most recent book, The Divided Mind of American Liberalism (Lexington Press, 2002), is a study of the divisions within American liberal thought in the 20th century. He received the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1976.

• Donald Kuspit, a distinguished professor in the art department at SUNY Stony Brook, is a renowned art critic and scholar whose eminent contributions to the field of art have received both national and international acclaim. He is the founding editor of a leading journal in art criticism and has received many distinguished professional awards, honorary degrees and visiting professorships at major universities.

• Clas Lundgren, a distinguished professor in the department of physiology and biophysics at the University of Buffalo, is one of the world’s most renowned specialists in respiratory physiology in specialized environments. He is well known for his studies of human respiration and adaptability undersea and in flight. An award-winning and prolific inventor, he holds or is listed as a co-inventor on more than 100 patents.

• David Mark, a distinguished professor in the department of geography at the University of Buffalo, is consistently named as one of the world’s most productive, creative and integrative academics in geography. His work in spatial cognition revolutionized the field of geographic information science.

• Frederick Sachs, a distinguished professor in the department of physiology and biophysics at the University of Buffalo, is the founder of the field of cellular mechanical transduction research and is considered the world’s leading scholar of mechanosensitive ion channels in cells. This field is acknowledged as one of the most important in biophysics and medicine, with life-saving applications, ranging from controllling cardiac arrhythmia and blood pressure to treating muscular dystrophy.

— Karen L. Mattison