Endowed chairs recognize and support the work of colleagues who have demonstrated sustained excellence throughout their careers. The endowed chairs are a product of generous gifts from benefactors interested in supporting the work of the Bates faculty. We are pleased to announce the appointment of five faculty members to Bates endowed chairs, beginning in the upcoming academic year, each of which carries a ten year term. We are honored to have such wonderful colleagues in our community, and look forward to celebrating their accomplishments publicly.

On March 17, 2022, we will organize an event to honor the recipients of these endowed chairs, and two endowed professors (Professors Holly Ewing and Charles Nero) who have not yet been properly recognized due to COVID constraints. Our goal is to have this become an annual event. In addition, we are developing a lunchtime endowed chair seminar series that will run throughout the year, featuring talks by faculty newly appointed to endowed chairs. More information about all of these events will be announced soon, but please join us in congratulating our colleagues as we celebrate these appointments.

Congratulations to these professors!

Charles A. Dana Professor of Religious Studies
Marcus C. Bruce, Professor of Religious Studies

The Dana Professorship is the longest-standing endowed chair program at Bates. In 1966, the Charles A. Dana Foundation awarded the college a matching grant to establish an endowed professorship fund that would recognize exceptional teacher-scholars among the Bates faculty. Over nearly 60 years, a distinguished group of faculty has been honored with Dana professorships in recognition of their exemplary teaching, the value of their research, and their service to the college.

Professor Marcus Bruce graduated from Bates in 1977, and returned a decade later to begin teaching here. Marcus teaches American religion from the colonial era to the present, with particular focus on African American religious traditions and on the intersection of religion and society in the United States. Early in his teaching career, he was one of the two architects of the Program in African American Studies (now Africana) and the Program in American Cultural Studies (now American Studies), and has taught in these programs. His research explores American religious history and African American culture. Marcus’ recent work examines African American expatriates in France, in particular W. E. B. DuBois, George Henry Jackson, and the painter Henry Ossawa Tanner, about whom he wrote the monograph, Henry Ossawa Tanner: A Spiritual  Biography (Crossroad, 2002).  

Colony Family Professor of Digital and Computational Studies
Barry G. Lawson, Professor of Digital and Computational Studies

Endowed by George P’12, P’17 and Ann Colony P’12, P’17, this professorship supports the development of the Program in Digital and Computational Studies. In funding the chair Mr. Colony said, “We gave to support the college’s efforts to widen course offerings in computer science — an important discipline that touches all aspects of the liberal arts in the 21st century.” 

Professor Barry Lawson joined the faculty in September 2020 as a Visiting Professor of Digital and Computational Studies, and will begin his tenure as Professor of Digital and Computational Studies in September 2021. Barry comes to Bates from the University of Richmond, where he was a member of the faculty in mathematics and computer science. He has also held a teaching position at the College of William and Mary, and programmer positions at NASA Langley Research Center and the Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals, and Energy. Barry’s scholarly interests include modeling and simulation, agent-based simulation, computer science pedagogy, and STEM education.

Charles A. Dana Professor of Physics
Hong Lin, Professor of Physics

The Dana Professorship, described above, recognizes exceptional teacher-scholars among the Bates faculty for their exemplary teaching, the value of their research, and their service to the college.

Professor Hong Lin joined the faculty in the Department of Physics and Astronomy in 1991. She offers courses from introductory physics to quantum theory, including upper-level courses that are aligned with her research in optics. In her research, Hong studies dynamics in lasers and nonlinear optical systems, in particular, nonlinear dynamics and their applications in vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers. Sixty student research assistants to date have conducted research with her; among them, 25 have published papers with her in leading journals. Hong’s work has been supported by numerous major grants from the National Science Foundation as well as Research Corporation and the American Physical Society’s Laser Science Topical Group.

Thomas Hedley Reynolds Professor of History
Karen Melvin, Professor of History

This professorship was established in 1989 with gifts from members of the Board of Trustees and others to honor Thomas Hedley Reynolds, who served for 22 years as the fifth President of Bates College. President Reynolds is credited with dramatically growing the faculty, and he placed teaching at the center of the college’s rising national reputation.  Reynolds was a historian at Middlebury College before coming to Bates, and the professorship was established to honor a historian.

Professor Karen Melvin joined the Bates faculty in 2005, teaching the history of Latin America from the Aztecs to the present in courses that focus on how the region connects to other parts of the world. She has played a pivotal role in the establishment of the Program in Latin American Studies. In her research, Karen examines the impact of the Catholic church in colonial Latin America, from charities that infused money into the region to the Inquisition. She is the principal investigator for Reading the Inquisition, a digital history project that makes Inquisition cases available in Spanish transcriptions and English translations. Karen is the author of Building Colonial Cities of God: Mendicant Orders and Urban Culture in New Spain, 1570-1800 (Stanford University Press, 2012) and co-editor, with Sylvia Sellers-García, of Imagining Histories of Colonial Latin America: Essays on Methods and Practice (University of New Mexico Press, 2017).

Stella James Sims Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Paula J. Schlax, Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Endowed by Michael J. Bonney ’80, P’09, P’12,P’15 and Alison Grott Bonney ’80, P’09, P’12, P’15, this chair is named in honor of Stella James Sims, Class of 1897. Stella James was the first African American female graduate of Bates College, earning second honor in physics. She became a science professor at Storer College, Virginia University of Lynchburg, and Bluefield Colored Institute, where she served as department chair. This professorship recognizes the role of biochemistry in the curriculum and honors a faculty member whose contributions to biochemistry, accomplishments as a pedagogue, achievements as a researcher, and effectiveness as a leader have enriched STEM at Bates and the college as a whole.

Professor Paula Schlax joined the faculty in 1998. A winner of the Kroepsch Award for Excellence in Teaching, Paula teaches introductory chemistry; biophysical chemistry; biological chemistry, and for nonscience majors, Biotechnology for Citizens; Structure and Function of DNA, RNA, and Proteins; a first-year seminar on epidemics; and a Short Term course on bees. She studies the importance of the thermodynamics and kinetics of mRNA folding in translational regulation. Her research on gene regulation in Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease, is not only of great public health interest, but of student interest as well. Scores of students have worked in the Schlax Lab as her research collaborators. Paula is a leader in STEM, advancing major initiatives from the new Bonney Science Center to our ongoing HHMI-funded work to ensure equity and inclusion in STEM.