Five Faculty Awarded Endowed Professorships

Several St. Lawrence faculty members have been appointed to endowed professorships by President William L. Fox ’75 at the recommendation of the Professional Standards Committee. The announcement was made to the campus community in mid-June and the professorships are effective as of July 1, 2021. 

Associate Professor of Biology Aswini Pai has been appointed to the Archie F. MacAllaster and Barbara Torrey MacAllaster Professorship in North Country Studies. The position recognizes a faculty member who makes a three-year commitment to focus research on the North Country, as well as teach one course each semester that incorporates a significant focus on North Country-related history, issues, and events. This professorship was established in Fall 2014 through the generosity of MacAllaster family members and friends to honor the memory of North Country native Archie F. MacAllaster ’50, P’78, late treasurer of the Board of Trustees. 

As an ethnobotanist and a plant ecologist, Pai is interested in the ecology of economically important plant species in the wild and agroecosystems, especially medicinal plants. Currently, she is collecting data and analyzing wild bee species and diversity throughout the St. Lawrence Valley and Northern New York. In addition to conducting local research, Pai has completed fieldwork in India, Nepal, North America, and Borneo. At St. Lawrence, she regularly teaches General Biology, Ethnobotany, Tropical Ecology, Medicinal Plant Ecology, and Forest Ecology of Asia.

Professor of Statistics Jessica Chapman has been appointed to the Cummings Professorship of Mathematics, which supports and recognizes an outstanding member of the Department of Mathematics, Computer Science, and Statistics. The endowed professorship is a seven-year appointment and was established in 1888 by Columbus R. Cummings of Chicago. It became the Cummings Professorship of Mathematics in 1900. 

Chapman's current research area focuses on methods for improved decision-making in multiple criteria optimization with collaborators from the Los Alamos National Laboratory and the University of South Florida. Her additional research interests include Bayesian Statistics and Statistics Education. Among the courses Chapman regularly teaches at St. Lawrence are Applied Statistics, Applied Regression Analysis, and Mathematical Statistics. 

Professor of Geology Antun Husinec has been appointed to the Henry James Chapin Professorship of Geology and Mineralogy, which supports and recognizes an exceptional member of the Department of Geology. The professorship is a seven-year appointment and was endowed in 1904 by Mrs. Kate Lewis Chapin in memory of her husband, the Reverend James Henry Chapin, Ph.D., professor of geology at St. Lawrence from 1871 to 1892.

Husinec’s research focuses on the carbonate-rock record of a 540-million-year history of climate-induced sea-level changes, which provides a window into how similar modern tropical marine habitats might respond to global warming. His recent research projects include Mesozoic Periadriatic platform carbonates (Croatia), Lower Paleozoic mixed carbonate-evaporite succession of the Williston Basin (USA); Permian-Triassic deposits (Persian Gulf); Lower Paleozoic mixed siliciclastic-carbonate succession of St. Lawrence Lowlands (USA); and modern carbonate environments of the Caribbean Region (Bahamas, Jamaica, Honduras). Among the courses he has taught at St. Lawrence are Oceanography, Regional Field Studies in Jamaica, and Tropical Coastal Environments. 

Associate Professor of Statistics Ivan Ramler has been appointed to the Jack and Sylvia Burry Professorship in Statistics. The endowed professorship is a seven-year appointment and supports and recognizes an outstanding member of the  Department of Mathematics, Computer Science, and Statistics who excels in teaching and scholarship in the areas of mathematics and statistics. The Burry Professorship was established in 2000 by John Burry Jr. ’53 and Sylvia Burry. 

Ramler’s academic interests involve applications to the environment and ecology, as well as in statistical analyses of competitive video games such as esports. He teaches many of St. Lawrence’s statistics courses and regularly mentors students through the Liberal Arts Scholars Program, CSTEP & McNair programs, and the St. Lawrence Fellowship program.

Professor of World Languages, Cultures, and Media Marcella Salvi has been appointed to the Lewis Professorship in Modern Languages, which supports and recognizes an outstanding faculty member in the World Languages, Cultures, and Media program. The professorship was established in 1902 in honor of Mrs. Harriet Lewis and supports a faculty member from the department and is a seven-year appointment. 

Salvi has taught Spanish and Italian languages at St. Lawrence since 2002. Her areas of scholarly interest include Spanish Golden Age Literature, 16th-and 17th-century Italian Literatures, politics of memory in contemporary literature in Spain and Italy, women writers, cultural and interdisciplinary studies, and socio-historical approaches. Salvi holds a Ph.D. in Romance Languages and Literatures from the University of Oregon.