Chemistry, History, Psychology: College Professors from Varied Disciplines Recognized as Provost’s Distinguished Professors
Since 2016, a small group of faculty are selected each year to receive the honor of the Provost’s Distinguished Associate Professors. These educators have made a huge impact in their field of research while at the university, and have shared their passions with their students, the Georgetown community and beyond. This year, Department of History professor Kathryn de Luna, Department of Psychology professor Adam Green and Department of Chemistry professor Kaveh Jorabchi were three of the four faculty chosen.
A High Honor
Each applicant is reviewed by a committee of senior faculty members, making the selection for this honor highly competitive. That three College professors from various areas of research were chosen speaks to the high level of talent across all disciplines.
“I was delighted to hear that Profs. De Luna, Green and Jorabchi are being honored by Provost Groves in this way,” says Chris Celenza, Dean of Georgetown College. “Each does the sort of boundary-breaking work that furthers human knowledge, weds together different disciplines, and leads to meaningful discovery. We are fortunate to have them as colleagues at Georgetown.”
Professor Kathryn de Luna
De Luna studies African history, particularly eastern, central and southern Africa prior to the 20th century. An interdisciplinarian, her work spans history, linguistics, and archeology. A novel teacher, she is co-creating a highly innovative two-semester course open to both graduate and undergraduate students called HyperHistory that will use big data methodologies. During her time at Georgetown, she has had the opportunity to expand her research interests.
“I’m delighted to receive this recognition,” says de Luna. “I deeply appreciate the support the university has given my research and am grateful for all the many ways my colleagues and our students have pushed me to grow as a scholar and as a teacher.”
Professor Adam Green
Green is a cognitive neuroscientist who combines behavioral, neural, and genetic analyses in order to characterize how individuals understand connections between ideas and events, and how this can eventually produce creative innovation. He attributes his success as a researcher to his students and fellow researchers.
“This recognition should more rightly go to a wonderful lab full of young scholars (from undergrads to research staff to grad students and post-docs) who are operating at an incredibly high level, putting in long hours, and making my job much easier than it should be,” says Green. “I am grateful for their astounding dedication and talent. I am also grateful every day for the department in which I’ve been lucky enough to grow as a scholar and as a teacher. I continue to learn so much from my colleagues about how to be better in science, the classroom, and the world. The community that has been established and cultivated in the psychology department is not something one finds everywhere in academia. We’re all pulling for each other, and that has substantial positive impacts on our quality of work and, not unrelatedly, our quality of life.”
Professor Kaveh Jorabchi
Jorabchi is a chemist who is researching better analytical ways to characterize chemically complex samples. He says that this recognition is due in large part to those who “have contributed in various ways to my career at Georgetown, in particular, members of my research group who have brought ideas in trace chemical measurements into fruition by their tireless efforts, our industrial and academic collaborators who have broadened the impact of our research, colleagues who have offered continual support and critical insights in research and teaching, and members of Georgetown offices who have helped navigate the landscape of research and teaching administration.”
“It is a great honor to be recognized by the esteemed colleagues at Georgetown, and I am honored to be part of the community and look forward to contributing to its growth in coming years.”
-by Shelby Roller (G’19)