Dear Colleagues,

We write to announce the appointment of two faculty members to endowed chairs with terms that begin this fall. We are honored to have such wonderful colleagues in our community, and look forward to celebrating their accomplishments publicly this year.
Endowed chairs recognize and support the work of colleagues who have demonstrated sustained excellence in their academic careers. These chairs are the product of generous gifts from benefactors interested in supporting the work of the Bates faculty. Recipients are appointed for a 10-year term during which they will receive an annual $10,000 stipend, an annual professional development fund, and a physical chair commemorating their award. Each new group of faculty appointed to endowed chairs will be celebrated in the fall semester of their appointment and have the option of presenting to the Bates community as part of a lecture series focused on their scholarship. 

We will soon host a celebration to honor our new endowed chairs and we will continue our lunchtime endowed chair seminar series that will run throughout the coming year. More information about all of these events will be announced soon, but please join us in congratulating our colleagues as we celebrate these appointments.

Endowed Professorship Appointments

The Charles A. Dana Professorship of English and Africana
The Dana Professorship is the longest-standing endowed chair program at Bates. In 1966 the Charles A. Dana Foundation of New York awarded the college a matching grant to establish an endowed professorship fund that would recognize exceptional teacher-scholars among the Bates faculty. The first Dana professor was named in 1968. Over the next half century, a distinguished group of faculty members has been honored with Dana professorships and recognized for their exemplary teaching, the value of their research, and their service to the college. Dana professors may hail from any discipline, underscoring the depth of talent of the Bates faculty.

Therí Alyce Pickens, Professor of English and Africana

Professor Pickens arrived at Bates in 2011 after receiving her Masters and PhD from the University of California at Los Angeles in 2010. Upon her arrival to Bates, she quickly established herself as a prolific scholar working on race, identity and disability studies. She has authored multiple books including Black Madness :: Mad Blackness from the Duke University Press and has contributed to many edited volumes. She has a long list of peer reviewed articles as well as public scholarship including pieces in the New York Times and the Washington Post. Dr. Pickens has been a finalist or semifinalist for numerous national awards for her writing and poetry including a nomination for the Pushcart Prize, receipt of the Mayers Fellow from the Huntington Museum, among many other honors. An innovative teacher, Dr. Pickens teaches multiple courses in the Department of English as well as the Africana program. Dr. Pickens is an engaged member of the community providing essential leadership to the Africana program while also serving on numerous VP search committees as well as the COVID-19 planning committee in 2020. Her work does not end at Bates. She is active as a reviewer and judge within her disciplines and serves as a coach for a national faculty success program focused on faculty retention throughout the academy. 

The Whitehouse Professorship of Psychology

The Whitehouse professorship was established from a 1985 gift to the college by David C. Whitehouse ’36 and Constance T. Whitehouse, in honor of their families. First awarded in 2007 this professorship has been held by 3 faculty over the last 15 years. The professorship is not restricted by discipline and recognizes faculty who are exceptional in teaching, scholarship, and service. 

Amy Bradfield Douglass, Professor of Psychology

Professor Amy Douglass arrived at Bates in 2001 after receiving her PhD from Iowa State University the same year. Upon her arrival at Bates, Professor Douglass began building teaching and research programs that have involved hundreds or students and collaborators from across the US and globe. Her research is focused on the reliability of eyewitness testimony and ways to improve and preserve such testimony. Her publications include numerous student co-authors from among the many thesis students she has advised in the Department of Psychology. Professor Douglass has received multiple grants from national and international funding agencies (e.g., the National Science Foundation, Australian Research Council) totaling over $600,000 and has held several international academic positions including a Fulbright Scholarship in 2023. Beyond these significant and ongoing contributions to her discipline, Dr. Douglass has done exemplary work as a teacher, most notably in her instruction of Statistics, a core requirement of Psychology and other social science curricula. She has been an influential member of the community serving on elected and appointed committees including the Academic Affairs Council, the Committee on Faculty Governance, and the Faculty Personnel Committee.

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Malcolm S. Hill, Ph. D.

Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty
Bates College
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