Syracuse University names two Tolley ProfessorsOctober 05, 2005Roxanna Carpenterrocarpen@syr.edu
For the first time in the history of the endowed chair at Syracuse University, two professors have been simultaneously named William P. Tolley Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Humanities.
Beverly Allen of Syracuse, N.Y., professor of French, Italian and comparative literature in the Department of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics in The College of Arts and Sciences; and Ann Grodzins Gold of Ithaca, N.Y., professor of religion and anthropology in The College of Arts and Sciences, professor of anthropology in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and director of the South Asia Center in the Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs, have been appointed by Arts and Sciences Dean Cathryn R. Newton to the distinguished professorships for academic years 2005-07.
“The Tolley Professorship since its inception has invigorated the humanities at Syracuse,” says Newton. “Now, for the first time, we have two Tolley Professors, joining their formidable forces to help us make the most of the extraordinary opportunities presented by the creation of a new Humanities Center in the Tolley Building. These remarkably accomplished and dynamic scholars and teachers, with unusually rich and very different academic backgrounds, will make important and lasting contributions to intellectual life in the college and University.”
Together, Allen and Gold will support the Tolley tradition in enhancement of teaching and development of humanities faculty in advance of the opening of the new Humanities Center at the University, scheduled for the Fall 2007 semester. Associate Dean for Humanities Gerald Greenberg views Allen and Gold as “the perfect pair of Tolley Professors.”
“The way the interests and strengths of one supplement, and at the same time complement, those of the other ensures that the Tolley activities they organize will be extremely formative as we gear up for the completion of the Humanities Center in 2007,” says Greenberg.
Allen has taught at the University since 1990 and currently serves on the board of the Center for European Studies in the Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs. A prolific scholar, translator and author, her works include “Rape Warfare: The Hidden Genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia,” (University of Minnesota Press, 1996) and a not-yet-published book, “Daring to Trust: Life Lessons from Women after War,” with co-author Susan Schwartz Senstad and war photographer Jerome Delay.
Allen’s research interests range from Italian poetry to human rights to global humanitarian issues. Her many honors include an NEA Award for translation and grants from the Soros Foundation Open Society Institute in Zagreb, Croatia, and the Norwegian Free Speech Institute. She previously taught at the University of California’s Berkeley and Santa Cruz campuses, Stanford University, Cornell University and the University of Zagreb.
Allen received a bachelor’s degree in music from Berkeley, a master’s degree in Italian from Columbia University and a Ph.D. in Italian with a French minor from the Berkeley.
Gold has been a faculty member at SU since 1993 and was named director of the South Asia Center in 2005. Her teaching and research interests include religious traditions in modern India, religion and gender, and South Asian environmental history. She has received fellowship awards from the American Institute of Indian Studies, the Fulbright Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Spencer Foundation. Gold has written four books, the most recent of which, “In the Time of Trees and Sorrows: Nature, Power and Memory in Rajasthan,” (Duke University Press, 2002) was co-authored with Bhoju Ram Gujar and won the 2004 Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy Book Prize from the Association for Asian Studies.
Gold, who previously taught at Cornell and Colgate University, received bachelor’s and master’s degrees and a Ph.D., all in anthropology, from the University of Chicago.
