Teres named faculty representative to Board of Trustees

Jemeli Tanui
(315) 443-5172

Harvey Teres, associate professor of English and director of Judaic Studies within The College of Arts and Sciences, has been appointed as a faculty representative to the Syracuse University Board of Trustees.

The position of faculty representative on the Board is new, created this year under the direction and leadership of Board Chairman John Chapple, with the unanimous support of the full Board.

“The Board of Trustees and Chancellor Nancy Cantor are very enthusiastic about this new position because it is key to our goal of continuing to improve campus-wide collaboration,” says Chapple. “I was thrilled to learn of Professor Teres’ appointment—given his reputation as a broad minded, first-rate thinker and as a constructive ambassador who will foster bridge building as all our constituencies grow ever closer in the years ahead.”

To fill the position, the Board turned to the University Senate Agenda Committee for input. The Agenda Committee made recommendations on selection criteria—including membership in the Senate and the Senate Academic Affairs Committee—to the chancellor, vice chancellor and the Board of Trustees. Larry Elin, chair of the Senate Academic Affairs Committee; Eileen Schell, chair of the Senate Agenda Committee; and Vice Chancellor and Provost Eric F. Spina then selected Teres from a pool of qualified candidates.

“Harvey is an accomplished scholar, teacher, mentor and faculty leader, and well respected for his contributions as a member of the University Senate’s Academic Affairs Committee,” says Spina. “He is superbly positioned to inform discussion and deliberation of the Board of Trustees from the faculty perspective.”

Teres’ term will begin immediately and will continue until May 2011.

“I’m honored and humbled by my colleagues’ decision to select me for this position and I very much look forward to this new adventure that will take me into a world that has heretofore seemed a mystery to me,” says Teres. “In fact, if in addition to representing the chief concerns of the faculty I can help demystify the Board of Trustees for our larger community, I believe I will have accomplished something important.”

Teres is the author of “Renewing The Left: Politics, Imagination, and the New York Intellectuals” (Oxford University Press; 1996), the forthcoming “The Word On the Street: The Academy and the Common Reader” (University of Michigan Press) and “American Beauty: Dialogues on Aesthetics With Ordinary People” (in process). He has written dozens of essays, articles and reviews in scholarly journals.

Teres received his bachelor’s degree from Cornell University, after which he spent six years working as a labor organizer in the factories of Chicago. He then earned his doctorate at the University of Chicago, has taught at Princeton University and, for the past 15 years, at SU. His fields of expertise include 20th-century American literature and culture, and Jewish American literature. His current teaching and scholarly priorities involve bridging the gap between the academic humanities and surrounding communities, and building the Judaic Studies Program into a world-class center of Jewish research and teaching. He is also an experienced member of the University Senate and Senate Academic Affairs Committee.