Retired Faculty Have Been Active Members of U.Va. Family

resident John T. Casteen III poses with a group of retired faculty members

Recently retired faculty members attended a special dinner on June 10 with the Board of Visitors and President John T. Casteen III.(Photo: Jim Carpenter)

June 14, 2010 — In the past year, 24 longtime University of Virginia faculty members took down their office hours signs and retired. Some of them attended a Board of Visitors dinner June 10. Each received a University chair with their nameplate on the back.

Here is the complete list of the recently retired faculty members with years of service in parentheses:

• Lloyd E. Barrett, Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (June 1975-May 2010)
• Terry Belanger, University Professor (July 1992-August 2009)
• Lillian R. BeVier, David and Mary Harrison Distinguished Professor of Law (September 1973-May 2010)
• Gilmer W. Blackburn, Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor and Professor of History and Education, U.Va.'s College at Wise (July 2004-July 2010)
• O. Whitfield Broome Jr., Frank S. Kaulback Jr. Professor of Commerce and Professor of Law (September 1967-May 2010)
• Reginald D. Butler, Associate Professor of History (September 1990-February 2010)
• Bascom S. Deaver Jr., Professor of Physics (September 1965-May 2010)
• Richard F. DeMong, Virginia Bankers Association Professor of Bank Management (September 1977-May 2010)
• David T. Haberly, Professor of Portuguese (September 1973-May 2010)
• David H. Ibbeken, Professor, General Faculty, President and Chief Executive Officer, Law School Foundation (September 1979-June 2009)
• Anita K. Jones, University Professor and Lawrence R. Quarles Professor of Engineering and Applied Science (February 1988-January 2010)
• D. Casey Kerrigan, Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (April 2002-June 2009)
• Ann J. Lane, Professor of History (September 1990-January 2010)
• Joel M. Linden, Professor of Medicine and Professor of Molecular Physiology and Biological Physics (July 1986-September 2009)
• H.C. Erik Midelfort, Julian Bishko Professor of History (September 1970-August 2009)
• William W. Roberts Jr., Commonwealth Professor of Applied Mathematics and Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (February 1969-May 2010)
• Timothy C. Scott, Associate Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (September 1977-May 2010)
• Charles R. Tolbert, Professor of Astronomy (September 1969-January 2010)
• Carl O. Trindle, Professor of Chemistry (September 1969-May 2010)
• Patricia H. Werhane, Ruffin Professor of Business Ethics (September 1993-May 2009)
• Moses A.K. Woode, Professor of Medical Education (May 1986-July 2009)
• Charles Wright, Souder Family Professor of English (August 1983-May 2010)

President John T. Casteen III gave the following remarks about the retirees who attended the dinner.

Gilmer W. Blackburn

In 2004, Gilmer Blackburn came to U.Va.'s College at Wise from Gardner-Webb University, where he served for 36 years in various capacities including professor of history, director of graduate studies, and vice president and dean of academic affairs. At Wise, he served as chief academic officer. He oversaw the College at Wise's entire academic program; the academic dean, department chairs and other academic officers; program development, evaluation and assessment; and academic publications.

He has taught "Western Civilization," "Modern German History," "Soviet History," "20th-Century European History" and "Educational Philosophy." A Fulbright Scholar to Germany, he is the author of "Education in the Third Reich: A Study of Race and History in Nazi Textbooks," as well as numerous scholarly articles.

He has been active in community service: he chaired the Boiling Springs, N.C. Rotary Club and has served on a number of other boards. He was named a National Eagle Scout Association Scoutmaster of Merit, and he received a 20-year service award from Boy Scouts of America.

O. Whitfield Broome Jr.

Whitfield Broome, the Frank S. Kaulback, Jr., Professor of Commerce, joined the accounting faculty of the McIntire School of Commerce in 1967. His leadership roles at the school have included interim dean; associate dean; director of graduate studies; director of the Ernst & Young M.S. in Accounting Program; and accounting area coordinator. He also served on the Provost's Advisory Committee and the Thomas Jefferson Award Committee.

With expertise in financial accounting and reporting, financial analysis and professional examinations, he has taught undergraduate and graduate students at the McIntire School and at the Law School. He received the Z Society Distinguished Faculty Award. He has lectured internationally in professional development and executive programs for accountants, financial analysts and bankers.
 
For six years he served as executive director and trustee of the Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts. He was chairman of the College for Financial Planning and sat on the Board of Directors of the College for Financial Planning in the United Kingdom.

He also chaired the CPA Examination Review Board and served on the AICPA Board of Examiners, among other professional organizations. He currently chairs the Virginia Board of Accountancy, which regulates CPAs in Virginia.
 
Bascom S. Deaver Jr.

Bascom Deaver came to the University in 1965 as an associate professor of physics in the College of Arts & Sciences. He earned the rank of professor in 1973. He has served as the associate chairman of the department since 1981.

His work has focused on the field of experimental condensed-matter physics, specifically in superconductivity, and, most recently, in terahertz electronics. He is the co-author of two patents. He has secured millions of dollars in research contracts over the course of his academic career and has been publishing steadily for more than 45 years.

While he is known for the excellence of his research, he has been just as widely recognized for his teaching. He has received the All-University Teaching Award; the Harrison Award for Undergraduate Advising; the George B. Pegram award of the Southeastern Section of the American Physical Society for excellence in teaching; and the Alumni Association Distinguished Professor Award. He is largely responsible for the doubling in size of the physics majors program since 1995.

Colleagues have appreciated his bright, optimistic outlook, his patience with students and with colleagues and his gentle, warm and understanding manner.

Richard F. DeMong

Richard DeMong, the Virginia Bankers Professor of Bank Management, joined the McIntire School of Commerce faculty in 1977. He specializes in home equity and mortgage lending, bank investment strategies and equity valuation.

He taught managerial finance and investments and served as finance area coordinator. He has taught seminars on equity analysis and bank financial management, and his consulting activities have included serving as financial consultant to several large medical trusts.

His research on non-prime mortgage and home equity lending has made him a sought-after expert in these fields. His recent publications include "Subprime Home Equity Lending" in Equity, and "How Lenders Are Marketing Home Equity Products," co-authored with professor Jack Lindgren, in Journal of Retail Banking Services.

He has testified before two subcommittees of the U.S. House of Representatives.

He served as secretary of the University's General Faculty and chaired the Faculty Senate's Academic Affairs Committee. He has chaired the Appointments, Reappointments, Promotion and Tenure Committee for the last 13 years. He was a director of the Universal Bond Fund and of several nonprofit organizations, and is currently a director of Innisfree Village. He retired from the U.S. Air Force Reserves as a colonel.

David T. Haberly

David Haberly, professor of Portuguese in the College, has been with the University since 1973. His courses have combined such diverse fields as film and media studies, sociology and women's studies, and African-American and Latin-American studies. He has worked in interdisciplinary programs, creating a study-abroad program in Brazil with the collaboration of African-American Studies. He helped establish an exchange program in Brazil for engineering students.

His excellent teaching was recognized in 2009 with an Alumni Association Distinguished Professor Award. He has had a remarkable influence on the lives of his students because of his enthusiasm and extensive knowledge of his field. He is praised as a professor who upholds the U.Va. tradition of close faculty-student interaction.

He is a renowned scholar and author in his field and a pioneer in the study of race as represented in literature and culture. He is frequently asked to evaluate the work of younger scholars in his field. He has served as chairman and associate chairman of his department, a graduate adviser, summer school chairman, director of graduate admissions and supervisor of the Woodson Institute Summer Program in Brazil.

Anita K. Jones

Anita Jones, the Lawrence A. Quarles Professor in the School of? Engineering and Applied Science, arrived at the University in 1988 as professor and chair of the computer science department.

Between 1993 and 1997, she served at the U.S. Department of Defense as the director of Defense Research and Engineering. She began her academic career by conducting pioneering research in operating systems at Carnegie-Mellon University, both as a graduate student and a faculty member. She led the CM Star Multiprocessor Project at Carnegie-Mellon.

To honor her many accomplishments, Jones was initiated into the National Academy of Engineering in 1993. She has received many awards, including the IEEE Founders Medal and the ACM Ada Lovelace Award. She is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Most recently she was elected to the American Philosophical Society.

The U.S. Navy named the Anita Jones Seamount in the North Pacific Ocean in her honor. She has served on many boards and committees including the MIT Corporation Board, the National Science Board and the BBN Technologies Board.

She has won national accolades for her work in promoting the contributions of women to the field of computer science.

H.C. Erik Midelfort

Erik Midelfort is the Julian Bishko Professor of History and Religious Studies Emeritus in the College. He has been a member of the history department since 1970. He is an internationally recognized expert on the cultural and social history of Early Modern Europe, especially Germany. He has written four books and edited or translated eight books; all of them have made important contributions to the study of witchcraft, madness and the Enlightenment in Germany.

He has held visiting appointments at the Folger Shakespeare Library, All Souls and Wolfson colleges, Oxford, the American Academy in Berlin and the Terry Lectureship at Yale. He received the Roland Bainton Prize twice from the Society for Reformation Research, and he won the Ralph Waldo Emerson Prize of Phi Beta Kappa.

Two volumes of essays have been written in his honor, most recently "Ideas and Cultural Margins in Early Modern Germany." His course on the "History of Witchcraft" raised important and difficult questions about beliefs and cultures. He has contributed in important ways to the educational mission of the University, serving at various times as assistant dean in the College of Arts & Sciences, principal of Brown College and director of the Program in Political and Social Thought.

William W. Roberts Jr.

William Roberts is the Commonwealth Professor of Engineering and Applied Science in the Engineering School. Since joining the applied mathematics faculty in 1969, he has been a tireless proponent of applied mathematics, both inside and outside the classroom. He was appointed director of the Applied Mathematics Program in 2005.

Among the multi-section classes in calculus and differential equations offered in the Engineering School, students in his sections have consistently outscored all others on final exams.

His research has extended from spiral galaxies to microfibers. His pioneering work in the quantitative analysis of spiral galaxies has earned him international recognition. He has received appointments as a visiting scientist in France, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United States.

He later became an expert in the manufacture of microfibers, publishing many reports and papers, and doing consulting work for Amoco Fabrics and Fibers, Dupont, NASA and Prentiss-Hall. To further this work, he established the Mathematical-Computational Modeling Laboratory in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. Over the years, he and his students have received more than $2.5 million from various government agencies and private industries to support their work.

Charles R. Tolbert

Professor of Astronomy Charles Tolbert came to the University in 1969. He attained the rank of professor in the College of Arts & Sciences in 1995. His introductory astronomy sequence was one of the most popular science classes at the University. He is known for his extensive office hours and for the numbers of students who visit him.

He has made significant contributions to both the Department of Astronomy and the international astronomical community. He has served as the department's associate chairman since 1989. He has a national reputation as a leader in astronomy education: he was education officer for the American Astronomical Society from 1985 to 1991. During that time he managed the Harlow Shapley Visiting Lectureship program. He was chairman of the Committee on Physics Education for the American Institute of Physics from 1989 to 1992. He has served on numerous other professional organizations.

Few, if any, other faculty members have made such wide-ranging contributions to the University. He was the University Grand Marshal from 2001 until retirement. As director of the Office of Academic Space for eight years, he was responsible for overseeing the scheduling of classrooms. He has served as president and vice president of the Colonnade Club. He has chaired several University committees, including the Handicapped Access Committee. He has served on the Faculty Senate, the Athletic Advisory Council and the Residential Life Committee. Through the years, he has been active in the Charlottesville-Albemarle community.

Carl O. Trindle

Professor of Chemistry Carl Trindle joined the University faculty in 1969. In his 41-year tenure in the College, he has been an exceptional scholar, mentor and teacher. He has mentored graduate and undergraduate research students, published more than 100 articles in peer-reviewed publications and continuously taught undergraduate and graduate courses in physical chemistry and quantum mechanics.

At Brown College on Monroe Hill (previously Monroe Hill College), he was director of studies from 1986 to 2001 and principal for another seven years. In addition to his formal responsibilities, he was always available as a mentor to the resident students, and he taught several mini-seminars each semester.

He received a Harrison Award for Undergraduate Advising in 2001 and was named a U.Va. Sesquicentennial Fellow in 2009. He has taught a University Seminar or Second-Year Seminar every year since the inception of the program.

He currently maintains research collaborations with colleagues in his department and with theoreticians in Turkey and India. As professor emeritus, he will continue those collaborations, and next year he will teach a University Seminar course and a graduate course in quantum mechanics.

Here are brief descriptions of some of the other retired faculty members.

Lillian R. BeVier, David and Mary Harrison Distinguished Professor of Law, was the first female professor to earn tenure in the U.Va. Law School.

"In the '60s, the war on poverty and all of its associated government programs were just beginning to get under way. ... The idea was beginning to take hold that law could be the instrument of social change," BeVier said. "There was a kind of awakening about the potential of law to transform society."

But once she began looking for a job she found that parity for women was still far from many employers' thoughts.

Lloyd Barrett, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering in the Engineering School, served on the faculty for 35 years. Barrett's research interests focused on the areas of mechanical vibration, rotor dynamics and lubrication. The research looked at predicting machinery vibration problems and correcting them through proper bearing design.

He is also faculty adviser to the school Motorsports Engineering Program. He co-authored the paper, "Integrating Auto Racing in the Mechanical Engineering Curriculum," in 2000, looking at the new programs at U.Va., North Carolina A&T State University and University of South Carolina.

Barrett's longer-term research has produced several computer analysis and design programs in those areas that have been distributed to industry through the Rotating Machinery and Controls Industrial Research Program in the department.

He is currently a member of ROMAC and is conducting research in modeling of rotor-bearing support systems and analysis and testing of tilting pad bearings.

Nicholas J. Garber, Henry L. Kinnier Professor of Civil Engineering, served on the Engineering School faculty since 1980. Author of more than 80 publications and reports, he is a registered professional engineer in the Commonwealth of Virginia and a chartered engineer of the United Kingdom. He is also a fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers and of the Institute of Civil Engineers of the United Kingdom.

Garber, who received the Transportation Research Board's D. Grant Mickle Award in 1996, also received the School of Engineering and Applied Science Distinguished Professor Award in 2002.

Garber was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2004 for "significant contributions to national and international engineering education and research in traffic operations and safety," the academy noted.

Ann J. Lane joined the U.Va. faculty as a full professor of history in 1990 with a specific directive from then-Dean of Arts & Sciences Ray Nelson to establish women's studies at the once all-male school.

When she retired in January, she left a thriving cross-disciplinary program, Studies in Women and Gender, that is part of U.Va.'s academic culture.

With a B.A. in English from Brooklyn College, an M.A. in sociology from New York University, and a Ph.D. in history from Columbia University, Lane taught at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in the City University of New York and at Colgate University before coming to U.Va.
 
"Lane's research on the early 20th-century writer Charlotte Perkins Gilman introduced Gilman's utopian novel 'Herland' to a new generation interested in women's history, women's literature and feminist critiques of political theory," said Kathleen Weston, now director of Studies in Women and Gender. "Lane continues to write. The publication of her book in progress, 'Gender, Power, and Sexuality in the Academy,' is eagerly awaited by friends, fans and colleagues."

Lane's presence and fearlessness in speaking out for equal treatment of female faculty and students opened the door for other women to be heard in the effort to transform U.Va. into a more diverse community, said her colleagues.

Charles Wright, Souder Family Professor of English in the College, has been called "the poet laureate of twilight" and taught in the University's Creative Writing Program for 27 years. He won most of the major prizes and recognitions a poet can receive in the United States, including the Pulitzer Prize in 1998, the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry in 1997 and the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize from the Academy of American Poets in 1996. Though highly celebrated, Wright prefers to keep to himself as he spins his magic webs of words.

— By Anne Bromley

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