The College of Liberal Arts & Sciences has named several accomplished faculty members to endowed chair and professorship positions. The positions are some of the highest honors that can be granted by the college.
The recipients will be awarded discretionary funding to carry out research and scholarship related to their fields. They will be honored in investiture ceremonies scheduled throughout the year.
Shaowen Wang, professor of geography and geographic information science and associate dean for natural and mathematical sciences in the college received the Robert W. Schaefer Professorship, along with statistics professor Yuguo Chen. Wang’s research looks to advance cyberGIS, geospatial data science, and spatial artificial intelligence.
The professorship is named for the late Robert W. Schaefer (BS, ’56, chemical engineering), who served in the U.S. Navy and later joined the Monsanto Company in St. Louis, where he was part of the team that introduced I-Dopa, the breakthrough Parkinson’s disease drug. He was a great supporter of the University of Illinois throughout his life.
“These professors represent the very best of LAS in terms of research, scholarship, public engagement, education, and service,” said Venetria K. Patton, the Harry E. Preble Dean of the College of LAS. “We will celebrate their achievements with pride and look forward to their future endeavors and accomplishments.”