Eight Trinity College of Arts & Sciences Faculty Honored With Named Professorships

Eight faculty in Duke University’s Trinity College of Arts & Sciences have been honored with named professorships, effective July 1.

These endowed positions recognize leadership and commitment to excellence in scholarship and research. Their recipients are outstanding teachers, mentors and researchers whose contributions are invaluable to the College of Arts & Sciences, as well as their students and colleagues.

“Trinity is defined by the strength of its faculty, and we are extraordinarily fortunate to count these scholars among us,” said Trinity College Dean Gary Bennett. “Their work exemplifies our deep commitment to academic rigor and research excellence, and I’m excited to see the impact they’ll continue to make in the years ahead.”

Calvin Cheung-Miaw, Cordelia and William Laverack Family Assistant Professor of History, is a historian of race who works at the intersection of intellectual history and social movement history. His current book project, “Asian Americans and the Color-Line,” uses the history of Asian American Studies to explore the rise and fall of Third Worldism within the United States. He is a core faculty in Duke’s Asian American and Diaspora Studies.

Connel Fullenkamp, W.R. Huff Professor of the Practice of Economics, investigates the development and regulation of financial markets. His projects often involve the exploration of variables such as immigrant worker remittances, economic policy and the development of countries. He is the recipient of multiple teaching awards, including Duke’s Teaching and Technology Award, and was previously chair of the Arts & Sciences Council for Undergraduate Education.

Jean-Philippe Gibert, Joanne W. Markman and A. Morris Williams Jr Associate Professor of Biology, combines mathematical modeling and experiments with microbial communities to understand how climate change affects the structure and dynamics of networks of interacting species like food webs. He is a Simons Foundation Early Career fellow and a National Science Foundation CAREER awardee.

Stephen L. Hayes, Esbenshade Assistant Professor of the Practice of Art, Art History and Visual Studies, uses found materials to make art — woodcuts, sculptures, installations small and large — that draw on social and economic themes ingrained in the history of America and African Americans. His work has been featured at the National Cathedral, Nasher Museum, Rosa Parks Museum and the African American Museum of Philadelphia, among others.

Daniel M. Herskowitz, Smart Family Associate Professor of Religious Studies, is the author of over twenty studies on modern philosophy, modern Jewish thought, Jewish-Christian relations, political theology, secularization and nationalism. His book, “Heidegger and His Jewish Reception” (Cambridge UP, 2021), was awarded the 2021 Salo W. and Jeannette M. Baron Young Scholars Award for Scholarly Excellence. 

Divine Kumah, Charles H. Townes Associate Professor of Physics, researches experimental condensed matter physics to understand the novel electronic and magnetic properties that emerge when atom-thick layers of different crystalline materials are superimposed, and to develop pathways for harnessing these unique properties for electronic and energy applications. He was the recipient of a National Science Foundation CAREER Award and of the 2022 Oxide Electronics Prize for Excellency in Research.

Cristina Salvador, Susan W. Beltz and A. Morris Williams Jr Associate Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience, is a social and cultural psychologist who examines how culture and biology interact and influence human thinking, feeling and behavior. She is the recipient of a 2024 SAGE Emerging Scholar Award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology.

Akhil Sharma, Adele Schiff Professor of the Practice of English, is known for his novels “An Obedient Father,” which won the 2001 PEN/Hemingway Award, “Family Life,” which received numerous accolades and was selected by The Atlantic as one of the “Great American Novels”, and “A Life of Adventure and Delight.” His many short stories and non-fiction works regularly appear in The New Yorker.