James Winn, professor of English and director of the Boston University Humanities Foundation, has been named a William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professor. BU President Robert Brown made the announcement on August 27. Winn is the fifth BU professor to receive the honor.
Named after BU’s first president, the Warren Professorships were established in 2008 as a way of recognizing the most distinguished faculty who are involved in research, scholarship, and teaching, as well as the University’s civic life. A faculty advisory committee reviews a number of candidates and sends the recommendations to President Brown, who makes the final selections.
“I think of this award as a symbolic endorsement of the broad and deep investigation of cultures that we call the humanities, the respect for past wisdom that drives all historical work, and the willingness to cross disciplinary borders that often enables fresh thinking,” said Winn, who also served as chair of BU’s English Department from 1998 to 2007. “I hope that my being singled out for this award will be encouraging to others who work in these vital areas.”
Winn joins CAS colleagues Nancy J. Kopell, the William Goodwin Aurelio Professor of Mathematics and Science and the co-founder and co-director of the Center for Biodynamics in the College of Engineering, and Laurence Kotlikoff, professor of economics, whose awards were announced in June. Receiving the honor in May were George Annas, the Edward R. Utley Professor of Health Law, Bioethics, and Human Rights and chair of the School of Public Health Department of Health Law, Bioethics, and Human Rights, and James Collins, a College of Engineering professor of biomedical engineering.