Purdue News
Purdue News
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April 9, 2004 Trustees honor faculty, rename liberal arts departmentWEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The Purdue University Board of Trustees today (Friday, 4/9) honored three faculty members with designated professorships, approved the appointment of vice chancellor for academic affairs and professor of history at Purdue North Central, and approved posthumous tenure for a Purdue Calumet faculty member. Board members also voted to rename the Department of Visual and Performing Arts. Chemistry professor Fred Regnier and communication professor Charles Stewart were appointed distinguished professors. Agricultural engineering and food science professor Bernie Tao was appointed Indiana Soybean Board Professor in Soybean Utilization within the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering. James S. Pula, dean of graduate and continuing education at Utica College, has been appointed vice chancellor for academic affairs and professor of history at Purdue North Central. The late Elizabeth Carlson, associate professor of nursing at Purdue Calumet, was awarded tenure posthumously. "These three designated professorships are being awarded to some of Purdue's finest scholars and instructors," said Provost Sally Mason. "They are leaders among their peers and are pioneers in their fields. They each are making significant strides in carrying out our goal to make Purdue preeminent. Their work is exemplary of distinguished and extraordinary careers, and Purdue is fortunate to rank them among its faculty."
Regnier has been a world leader in analytical chemistry and biochemistry for several decades for his efforts in proteomics, the pioneering field of categorizing protein function. He earned his bachelor's degree in chemistry from Nebraska State College and a doctorate in chemistry from Oklahoma State University. He did postdoctoral work at the University of Chicago and at Harvard University. He joined the faculty at Purdue in 1968 and has been associate director of Purdue's Agricultural Experiment Station. He has received numerous awards from peer groups for his achievements in chromatography, including the David B. Hime Award by the Chicago Chromatography Discussion Group, the Stephen Dal Nogare Award from the Delaware Valley Chromatography Discussion Group, the ACS Award from the American Chemical Society, the Martin Gold Medal Award from the Chromatographic Society and the Pierce Award by Pierce Chemical Corp., among others. Regnier sits on the boards of Liquid Chromatography Magazine, Journal of High Resolution Chromatography and the International Journal of Bio-Chromatography.
Stewart received his bachelor's degree from Indiana State University and his master's degree and doctorate from the University of Illinois. His career at Purdue spans more than four decades and includes heading the communication department for 10 years. He has received numerous teaching awards and honors for outstanding teaching from Purdue and the National Communication Association. He is a Founding Fellow of the Purdue Teaching Academy and is inscribed in its Book of Great Teachers. Undergraduate and graduate courses he has taught in the past three years include principles of persuasion, interviewing, persuasion and social protest, and extremist rhetoric on the Internet. His primary research interests are persuasion and the rhetoric of social movements. He has published or edited 10 books, including a McGraw-Hill textbook, "Interviewing: Principles and Practices," used at more than 225 colleges and universities, and many articles and chapters published in communication journals and other scholarly publications. In addition to his teaching and research, he has served on numerous committees within the university and professional community, including serving as president of the Central States Communication Association.
In November, the Indiana Soybean Board developed a partnership with Purdue's School of Agriculture to fund Tao's professorship, which is dedicated to developing new uses for soybeans. Tao is part of a team that has developed soy-based products such aviation jet fuel, home heating fuel, vegetarian food gels, children's crayons and candles. Tao received his bachelor's and master's degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his doctorate from Iowa State University. He came to Purdue in 1988 and teaches undergraduate courses in thermodynamics, reaction kinetics and ethics, and graduate courses in protein chemistry and biotechnology. His research involves using genetic and chemical techniques to understand enzymatic mechanisms and biochemical conversion of natural materials to make industrial products. He also is interested in K-12 science education and has developed hands-on science kits for students in kindergarten through high school, highlighting the use of safe, natural materials in teaching chemistry, physics and biology. He has been adviser to numerous Purdue student organizations, including the Society of Business Engineers, Colleges Against Cancer, the student chapter of the American Society of Agricultural Engineers and the Tomahawk Service and Leadership Honor Society. He received the National Utilization Research Award from the American Soybean Board, the American Society of Agricultural Engineers Blue Ribbon Awards for Educational Aids (Computer Division), and the Department of Agricultural Engineering's award as best teacher. Tao has served as chair of the Food, Pharmaceutical and Bioengineering Division of the American Institute of Chemical Engineering, executive board member of the Carbohydrate Division of the American Chemists Society, counselor to the Institute of Biological Engineering, associate editor of the Journal of American Oil Chemists and serves on the Purdue Faculty Senate Steering Committee. He also has chaired or served on numerous research review panels for the U.S. Department of Agriculture and National Science Foundation and is a consultant for several industrial companies. With these appointments, Purdue has 97 designated professors, with 61 distinguished and 36 named professors. Pula, whose appointment is effective July 1, received his bachelor's degree from State University of New York at Albany, master's degrees from Purdue and the University of Maryland, and his doctorate from Purdue. In addition to serving as dean of graduate and continuing education at Utica College, he has served as dean of the Metropolitan College at Catholic University of America, associate dean of Empire State College at SUNY and director of the division of career and interdisciplinary studies at SUNY. Prior to that position, he was associate dean and director of continuing education and summer session at St. John Fisher College and director of administration at Southeastern University. He has received numerous awards during his career, most recently being named an honorary member of the board of directors of Friends of Kosciuszko at West Point. He received several awards for excellence in credit program development from the University Continuing Education Association and more than two dozen awards for outstanding contributions and service to continuing and professional education. He has been editor of "Polish American Studies" since 1982, has been a member of the board of directors of the Polish American Historical Association since 1978, a member of the board of directors of the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences since 1989 and secretary to that board since 1994. He has authored, co-authored and edited numerous books and articles and has won awards for several of his books on Polish history and culture, including the Oscar Halecki Prize for the best book on Polish-American history and culture. The board also approved the renaming of the Department of Visual and Performing Arts the Patti and Rusty Rueff Department of Visual and Performing Arts. The naming is in recognition of a $5 million gift to the department, announced in February, by J. Russell "Rusty" Rueff and his wife Patricia, of Burlingame, Calif. The gift is the single largest in the history of the School of Liberal Arts. Rusty Rueff earned a bachelor's degree from Purdue in radio and television in 1984. He currently serves as executive vice president for human resources for California-Electronic Arts Inc. A graduate of Wood Business School in Manhattan, Patti Rueff works as an event-planning consultant. The Rueffs also have pledged $200,000 to name the Patti and Rusty Rueff Gallery in the new Visual and Performing Arts Building. The gift will be matched by a fund set up this fall by an anonymous donor, doubling its value. Previously, a classroom was named after the Rueffs' godson, Noah B. Putnam, in honor of a $50,000 gift. The board approved posthumous tenure for Carlson to complete the process that had been started prior to her death from cancer on Nov. 8. She had prepared her case for consideration for tenure and was recommended by her colleagues for her contributions to the School of Nursing. Writers: Reni Winter, (765) 496-3133, rwinter@purdue.edu Matthew Holsapple, (765) 494-2073, mholsapple@purdue.edu Sources: Bernard Tao, (765) 494-1183, tao@ecn.purdue.edu Fred Regnier, (765) 494-3878; fregnier@purdue.edu Charles Stewart, (765) 494-3335, cstewart@sla.purdue.edu Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu Related Web sites:
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