Eleven Profs Honored at Lenfest Awards

In the third year of the Lenfest Distinguished Columbia Faculty Awards, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences upped its quota of honorees from 10 to 11 at a Jan. 29 ceremony due to an exceptional pool of candidates.

Columbia has been honoring professors appointed by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences with Lenfest Citations for outstanding teaching and scholarship since the 2005-2006 academic year. Trustee Gerry Lenfest, Law ’58, made the awards possible with a $12 million donation. Lenfest has given significant monetary sums to various parts of the University in recent years, including the Earth Institute. Lenfest also donated $15 million towards the School of Law’s newest residence hall, which opened in 2003 and
bears his name.

Lenfest winners receive $25,000. A committee of senior Columbia faculty members, overseen by Vice President for Arts and Sciences Nicholas Dirks, selected the honorees based on outstanding achievements in what a University press release calls “scholarship, University citizenship and professional involvement.”

This year’s honorees feature both junior and senior faculty members in departments ranging from philosophy to physics. Most of chosen professors have served the University in capacities other than exceptional teaching and scholarship, such as teaching core courses, spearheading initiatives, or directing centers and institutes.

Anthropology professor Lila Abu-Lughod earned the citation specifically for “groundbreaking scholarship, combining the fields of ethnography, anthropology, and gender politics,” according to the packet of biographies distributed by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Abu-Lughod’s description noted that she served as director of the Institute for Research on Women and Gender and that her work was imperative to founding the new Center for the Critical Analysis of Differences.

Citations are awarded to professors who show great promise in their fields. Professor of English and comparative literature Nicholas Dames, for instance—known for his specialization in Victorian literature—achieved this honor in what is only the first decade of his career in academia. The packet quotes an unnamed colleague of Dames as saying, “His work will define the field for the next generation.”

“The recipients of the Distinguished Columbia Faculty Awards have achieved great distinction as teachers, scholars, and citizens, and serve as excellent role models for our students,” University President Lee Bollinger said in a statement that accompanied the fist rendition of Lenfest Citations.

Arts and Sciences appoints faculty members of 29 academic departments. These faculty members chiefly teach social sciences, natural sciences, and humanities at six schools: Columbia College, the School of General Studies, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the School of the Arts, the School of International and Public Affairs, and the School of Continuing Education. Members of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences also staff various research institutes and centers.

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