Georgetown University celebrated 72 newly promoted or tenured faculty members from the main campus, Georgetown University Medical Center and Georgetown University Law Center at its fall faculty convocation Oct. 30 in Gaston Hall.
The convocation recognized all the faculty who received promotion or tenure this fall, including six distinguished professors. It also hosted Georgetown’s annual “Aims of Education” address, given by Antoine M. Garibaldi, president emeritus and distinguished university professor of the University of Detroit Mercy.
Provost Robert M. Groves acknowledged six faculty members awarded the rank of Distinguished University Professor, which is bestowed by President John J. DeGioia (CAS ’79, GRD ’95) as the university’s most significant professional honor.
Five of these faculty members include Lucile Adams-Campbell, a cancer epidemiologist and professor of oncology at the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center; Victor Cha, the D.S. Song-Korea Foundation Endowed Chair in government and international affairs in the School of Foreign Service; Janet Mann, a professor of biology and psychology; John Rust, the Gallagher Family Professor of Economics; and Richard Schlegel, a professor and academic chair of pathology.
Anthony Fauci (H ’90), former chief medical advisor to the president and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, also received this rank after joining the School of Medicine this summer.
Groves said the rank is rarely awarded due to its high level of criteria for scholarship, teaching and service to higher education. Mann is the first female member of Georgetown’s STEM faculty to receive the honor.
“Georgetown reserves this designation for faculty members of extraordinary achievement, whose preeminent accomplishments have earned them substantial recognition not only from their academic peers, but also from the world at large,” Groves said.
The ceremony began with a performance of the hymn “Veni, Creator Spiritus” by the Georgetown Chamber Singers. The hymn was followed by an opening prayer from Jeanine Turner, a professor with a joint appointment in the Communication, Culture and Technology Program and the McDonough School of Business.
In her prayer, Turner said the Georgetown community is grateful for the opportunity to gather in such a celebration, considering the current crises of the wider global community.
“We come together as a community, bound by our shared commitment to the formation of our students, our faculty, our administration and our staff,” Turner said at the event.
“At the same time, we are troubled by so much confusion about the meaning of our human existence — by the lack of humility and empathy in relationships, by the polarization and conflict around us, by the death and destruction of war in many parts of the world,” Turner added.
Garibaldi, Detroit Mercy’s first African American and lay president and the first publicly acknowledged African American president of a Jesuit university, discussed teachers’ impact on students and society in the “Aims of Education” address.
Garibaldi, who formerly served on Georgetown’s board of trustees, said the entire Georgetown faculty should be celebrated for their commitment to the university’s standards of academic excellence and mission.
“During my six years on the board of trustees here, it was clear to me that the faculty and the deans were involved in the development of the university’s strategic plan, and especially those aspects related to curriculum,” Garibaldi said. “Your daily contributions as faculty members — in and out of the classroom — are critical to the advancement of Georgetown’s 234-year-old mission of preparing students to make a positive difference in the world.”
Garibaldi also reflected on the fall 2017 “Aims of Education” address given by Diana Natalicio, the late president of the University of Texas at El Paso, as well as the book “The Aims of Education and Other Essays” by Alfred North Whitehead, a mathematician and philosopher.
He said these references informed his message about the significant impact of professors and elementary and secondary education teachers.
“This is an occasion to recognize the value of teaching and those who teach at every educational level — from elementary to graduate and professional schools,” Garibaldi said.
“Students know the difference between good and average teaching, and exceptional teachers like you go beyond the norm and stimulate students so much that they will excel in whatever profession they enter, including teaching,” Garibaldi added.
