In a ceremony held on Friday, April 25, the College of Letters & Science re-invested in its future, conferring named chairs and professorships on 17 of its faculty members. The 2025 Investiture Ceremony is the fourth such event the College has hosted, beginning the tradition in 2021.
“Attaining an endowed position is a tremendous honor,” L&S Dean Eric M. Wilcots and Mary C. Jacoby Professor of Astronomy said in his introduction, speaking from the stage in the Wisconsin State Historical Society. “It reflects not only the hard work and passion that these faculty members have put in over the years, but it also reflects that their scholarship has had an impact on their disciplines, on their communities and on society at large. They have placed a relentless pursuit of discovery, knowledge and creativity at the center of their intellectual endeavors, prioritizing teaching and mentoring and upwelling Wisconsin’s tradition of service to society.”
The 17 positions represent a $34 million commitment from philanthropic donors, including generational campus stewards John (’55) and Tashia (’55) Morgridge, whose largesse is responsible for supporting six of the positions. Other positions were funded by individual donors or specific departmental funds. Most are named for the donors who supported them.
UW–Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin also delivered introductory remarks to the audience, emphasizing the critical importance of named chairs and professorships.
“Besides the critical financial resources they provide, endowed chairs and professorships give our faculty the precious gifts of time and flexibility to think about and plan for the next problem they want to tackle and how to approach it,” she said. “And they send a powerful signal — to the faculty we want to recruit, to the students we hope to inspire and to the public we serve — that UW–Madison is a place where excellence matters.”
Faculty members from the four divisions of the College — four from the Arts & Humanities, two from Computer, Data & Information Sciences, four from the Natural, Physical & Mathematical Sciences and seven from Social Sciences — were introduced by L&S associate academic deans and presented with a medallion by Dean Wilcots.
The College salutes the faculty members who received endowed chairs and professorships and offers thanks and gratitude to the donors that made them possible:
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ARTS & HUMANITIES
Leslie Bow: Sally Mead Hands Bascom Professor, Department of English
Bow is a professor of English and Asian American Studies. A globally recognized advocate for interdisciplinary Asian American Studies, she has served as director of program at UW–Madison. An award-winning writer and teacher, she has published widely on diverse topics such as contemporary U.S. literature, fetishism and segregation, challenging us to deepen our understanding of race beyond a Black/white dichotomy. She is the author of Partly Colored: Asian Americans and Racial Anomaly in the Segregated South (New York University Press, 2010); Betrayal and Other Acts of Subversion: Feminism, Sexual Politics, Asian American Women’s Literature (Princeton University Press, 2001); and Racist Love: Asian Abstraction and the Pleasures of Fantasy (Duke 2022). The editor of anthologies such as Asian American Feminisms (Routledge, 2012), her creative nonfiction essays have appeared across the country.
Devin Kennedy: Herbert and Evelyn Howe Bascom Professor, Department of History
Kennedy is an assistant professor of history, where he teaches on the history of science, medicine and technology in the Integrated Liberal Studies program. Kennedy’s research and teaching centers on science and technology in the United States, with a focus on the development of computer science and digital technology. His first book, Coding Capital: Computing in the Postwar US Economy (Columbia University Press, 2026) describes the profound but largely forgotten influence of the manufacturing and financial industries on research in computer science and describes the impact of computerization on large-scale changes in postwar US economic history. Kennedy trained as a historian of science at Harvard following an undergraduate degree in comparative literature and maintains a strong interest in the relationship between culture, society, science and technology.
Neil Kodesh: Allan H. Selig Distinguished Leadership Chair, Department of History
Kodesh is a professor of African history and serves as chair for the Department of History. His research and teaching interests center on medical history, historical anthropology and multidisciplinary methodologies for writing African history, with a particular emphasis on the Great Lakes region. His book, Beyond the Royal Gaze: Clanship and Public Healing in Buganda, won the African Studies Association’s Best Book Prize for the best scholarly book on Africa published in English, in any discipline. Kodesh served as Director of the African Studies Program on campus for six years and has twice served as Faculty Director of the Global Gateway Botswana study abroad program. In 2024, he received the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Award.
Sunny Yudkoff: Max and Frieda Weinstein Bascom Professor, Department of German, Nordic, and Slavic+ and Mosse/Weinstein Center for Jewish Studies
Yudkoff is an associate professor of Yiddish studies in the Department of German, Nordic, and Slavic+, as well as the Mosse/Weinstein Center for Jewish Studies. Her first book, Tubercular Capital: Illness and the Conditions of Modern Jewish Writing, was published with Stanford University Press (2019) and was awarded the AAJR Salo Wittmayer Baron Prize for the Best First Book in Jewish Studies. Her 2023 article, “The Joys of Yiddish in the Work of Mel Bochner,” was awarded the best article in Yiddish studies by This Year’s Work in Modern Language Studies. Her writing has appeared in the Los Angeles Review of Books and the Wisconsin State Journal, as well as Prooftexts, Jewish Social Studies, Comparative Literature, Literature and Medicine, and elsewhere. She is on the editorial board of the Jewish Quarterly Review and In geveb: A Journal of Yiddish Studies and is a board member of the Society for Novel Studies.
COMPUTER, DATA & INFORMATION SCIENCES
Jin-Yi Cai: Rajiv & Ritu Batra Chair, Department of Computer Sciences
A professor of computer sciences, Cai received his PhD from Cornell University in 1986. He specializes in computational complexity theory, which tries to discover and prove quantitative laws governing all computational processes. He is particularly interested in the computational complexity of counting problems and has proved several complexity dichotomy theorems. He received a PYI award in 1990, a Sloan Fellowship in 1994 and a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1998. He also received the Humboldt Research Award for Senior U.S. Scientists. He has been elected a Fellow of ACM, AAAS, AMS and a foreign member of Academia Europaea. He was awarded the Gödel Prize in Theoretical Computer Science and the Fulkerson Prize in Discrete Mathematics.
Yazhen Wang: Professor George Box Distinguished Chair in Statistics, Department of Statistics
Wang is a professor of statistics and previous chair of the department. A Fellow of both the American Statistical Association (ASA) and the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (IMS), Professor Wang has made significant contributions to the statistical community. His extensive service includes acting as an NSF program director and serving on numerous committees for organizations such as the Committee on Applied and Theoretical Statistics at the National Academies, ASA, IMS, and the International Chinese Statistical Association. In addition to this service, he has co-edited, has served or currently serves as an associate editor for many prominent journals, including The Annals of Statistics, The Annals of Applied Statistics, The Journal of the American Statistical Association, and The Journal of Business & Economic Statistics. Professor Wang’s research interests span a wide range of fields, including statistics, machine learning, quantum computation and finance.
NATURAL, PHYSICAL & MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES
Ángel Adames-Corraliza: Ned P. Smith Distinguished Chair of Climatology, Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences
Adames-Corraliza is a tropical meteorologist specializing in using observations and theory to understand the processes that drive tropical weather and climate, working in the department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (AOS). His interest in the topic stems from growing up in San Sebastían, Puerto Rico, where he experienced tropical waves and hurricanes. He received his BS in Physics from the University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez and his PhD from the University of Washington. For his research Adames-Corraliza has received the American Geophysical Union’s James R. Holton Early Career Award, UW’s Vilas Early Career Award, and an NSF CAREER award. He has also received UW’s Exceptional Service Award from the Office of the Provost and the AOS Graduate Student Teaching Award.
Samuel Gellman: Irving Shain Chair in Chemistry, Department of Chemistry
Gellman is the Ralph F. Hirschmann Professor of Chemistry and a Vilas Research Professor. Gellman’s scholarship is inspired by the structural and biological properties of peptides and proteins. Gellman has had the privilege of pursuing this scholarly work with many talented and committed students. The group’s work has been recognized with many honors over the years from several prestigious organizations, including the American Chemical Society. Gellman is a Member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, a Foreign Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and a Fellow of the U.S. National Academy of Inventors. In addition to scholarship, Gellman has enjoyed sharing the joys of organic chemistry with thousands of UW–Madison undergraduates through teaching Chemistry 343 and 345. He received the UW–Madison Phi Beta Kappa Teaching Award in 2008.
Jeff Hardin: Wayland E. Noland Distinguished Chair in Zoology, Department of Integrative Biology
Hardin’s research focuses on the fundamental genetic and cellular mechanisms that transform the shape of embryos during development; his group’s work has implications for understanding common birth defects and cancer. Hardin served the Department of Zoology/Integrative Biology as department chair for 13 years. He is also an award-winning biology educator. For 18 years he was the Faculty Director of the Biology Core Curriculum, and he is lead author of the widely used text, World of the Cell (Pearson). In addition, Hardin is an affiliate in Religious Studies at UW-Madison, with extensive interests in the intersection of science and religion. Nationally, he served for many years as the Board Chair of the BioLogos Foundation, founded by Francis Collins, and as an advisor to the Dialogue on Ethics, Science, and Religion for the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Jennifer Schomaker: Edward and Nancy Fody Professorship in Chemistry, Department of Chemistry
Schomaker began her research career in industry working on biocatalytic methods for polymer synthesis and designing new herbicides. After obtaining her PhD and completing an NIH postdoctoral fellowship, she joined UW–Madison’s faculty in 2009. Her research focuses on new methods to prepare useful synthetic building blocks for agrochemicals and pharmaceuticals, the development of efficient methods for the chemo- and site-selective C-H functionalizations of hydrocarbon feedstocks, the design of Earth-abundant, inexpensive first-row transition metal catalysts for remediation of greenhouse gases and the total syntheses of bioactive natural and unnatural products. Schomaker is a member of the AAAS and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry. Her awards include an Arthur C. Cope Mid-Career Scholar Award, Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award, NSF-CAREER, Sloan Research Fellowship, ACS-WCC Rising Star Award, Kavli Fellow, ACS DOC Early Academic Investigator Award, MSU Distinguished Alumni Award, UW-Vilas Mid-Career, UW Romnes Faculty Fellowship, UW2020 Award and a Thieme Chemistry Journal Award.
SOCIAL SCIENCES
Lawrence (Lonnie) Berger: Sheila B. Kamerman and Alfred J. Kahn Professor of Social Policy, Sandra Rosenbaum School of Social Work
Berger is the Associate Vice Chancellor for Research in the Social Sciences, Shelia B. Kamerman and Alfred J. Kahn Professor of Social Policy, Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor in the Sandra Rosenbaum School of Social Work, and past Director of the Institute for Research on Poverty. His research focuses on the ways in which economic resources, sociodemographic characteristics and public policies affect parental behaviors and child and family well-being. His work aims to inform public policy in order to improve its capacity to assist families in accessing resources, improving family functioning and well-being, and ensuring that children are able to grow and develop in the best possible environments. During Lonnie’s tenure as director of the Institute for Research on Poverty, he expanded its reach and influence, strengthening its role as a national leader in policy-relevant research. His contributions have been recognized through numerous honors, including election to the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare.
Christine Durrance: Curt and Sue Culver Professorship in Public Policy Education, La Follette School of Public Affairs
Durrance is a health economist and professor in the La Follette School of Public Affairs. Her research concentrates on health economics and health policy, with a focus on maternal, infant and reproductive health; risky behavior including substance use, the opioid crisis, violence and child maltreatment; and competition in health care markets. Currently, she devotes a significant portion of her efforts toward understanding the causes and consequences of the opioid crisis, with emphasis on the effects of the opioid crisis on mothers and children, while also studying the impact of reproductive health care access on families. She also has research interests in competition policy and health care markets, and has a co-authored book entitled, Antitrust Policy in Health Care Markets. Durrance is a faculty affiliate at the Institute for Research on Poverty, Collaborative for Reproductive Equity, Center for Demography & Ecology, Center for Demography, Health, and Aging, and the Department of OB/GYN.
Jean-François Houde: David Edwin and Lucille Hartmann Davies Chair in Economics, Department of Economics
Houde is the David Edwin and Lucille Hartmann Davies Chair in Economics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. He currently serves as a co-editor of the Rand Journal of Economics and an associate editor at the American Economic Review and Quantitative Economics. Houde received his PhD in Economics in 2006 from Queen’s University and specializes in industrial organization. Much of his work focuses on assessing the extent of price competition and collusion in retail markets, especially in the energy and banking sectors, online commerce and in developing countries’ sanitation markets. He held several positions before returning to UW–Madison in 2018, including assistant professor of economics at UW–Madison (2006-2012), assistant professor at the Wharton School of Business of the University of Pennsylvania (2012-2016) and an associate professor of economics at Cornell University (2016-2018).
Greg Nemet: Jack Salzwedel Distinguished Faculty Chair in Business and Regulation, La Follette School of Public Affairs
Nemet is a Professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in the La Follette School of Public Affairs. He recently served as Interim Director of the school. He teaches courses in policy analysis, energy systems, and international environmental policy. Nemet’s research focuses on understanding the process of technological change and the ways in which public policy can affect it. He received his doctorate in energy and resources from the University of California, Berkeley. His AB is in geography and economics from Dartmouth College. He received an Andrew Carnegie Fellowship in 2017 and used it to write a book on how solar energy provides lessons for the development of other low-carbon technologies: How Solar Energy Became Cheap: A Model for Low-Carbon Innovation (Routledge 2019). He was awarded the inaugural World Citizen Prize in Environmental Performance by APPAM in 2019. He was a lead author for the "Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s 6th Assessment Report" (2023).
Allison Prasch: Nancy Obin Sukenik Professorship, Department of Communication Arts
Prasch is an associate professor of rhetoric, politics and culture in the Department of Communication Arts. Her areas of expertise include U.S. presidential rhetoric and political communication. She is the author of The World is Our Stage: The Global Rhetorical Presidency and the Cold War (University of Chicago Press, 2023) and the co-editor of Reassessing Foreign Policy Rhetorics in a Global Era: Concepts and Case Studies (Michigan State University Press, 2024). Prasch’s scholarship has appeared in the field’s most prominent journals, and she is the recipient of numerous scholarly awards. Prasch also is the 2024 recipient of the Phi Beta Kappa (Alpha Chapter of Wisconsin) Excellence in Teaching Award. Her expert commentary and analysis have been featured in outlets such as National Public Radio, ABC News, the BBC, C-SPAN, Washington Post, Boston Globe, U.S. News & World Report, The Hill, The Conversation and Wisconsin Public Radio.
Jonathan Renshon: Department of Political Science Board of Visitors Professor, Department of Political Science
Renshon is an accomplished scholar. His book, Fighting for Status: Hierarchy and Conflict in International Politics, was published in May 2017 by Princeton University Press and was awarded the 2017 Lepgold Prize from the Mortara Center at Georgetown University and the 2019 Best Book Award from the International Studies Association. In 2025, Renshon was awarded the Karl Deutsch Award from the International Studies Association, which is presented annually to a scholar who is judged to have made the most significant contribution to the study of International Relations and Peace Research. Renshon founded and runs the Experimental Politics Workshop, which hosts outside speakers as well as roundtables on issues related to experimentation, ethics, research transparency and design. He teaches courses on political psychology, international relations, research design and experimental methods and currently serves as an associate editor at the Journal of Experimental Political Science.
Tova Walsh: Anne Wackman Oros Professor, Sandra Rosenbaum School of Social Work
Walsh is an associate professor in the Sandra Rosenbaum School of Social Work. Guided by an equity and inclusion perspective, Walsh designs and conducts her research to amplify the voices of marginalized parents, deepen understanding of their strengths as well as the challenges they face and inform the development of interventions that are responsive to their needs. Walsh’s research draws on her experience working in low-income communities as a home visitor to families with young children. Her work has been supported by grants and fellowships from foundations and the National Institutes of Health and covered by media outlets including Reuters and National Public Radio. She is a member of the Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health and Developmental Neuroscience Task Force of the Council on Social Work Education, the Research Committee of the Alliance for the Advancement of Infant Mental Health, and the Board of Directors of the Group for the Advancement of Doctoral Education in Social Work (GADE).