Four Approved for Named Professorships

The University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents at its February 1997 meeting approved the appointments of four UW–Madison faculty to named professorships.

Thomas F. Kuech has been named the Milton J. and A. Maude Shoemaker Professor of Chemical Engineering, while Javier Calderon, Thomas Loeser and J.J. Murphy have been named Emily Mead Baldwin Bell-Bascom Professors in the Arts.

A member of the chemical engineering department since 1990, Kuech has been studying chemical and physical processes underlying the synthesis of semiconducting materials and structures. This work is a key part of the current technology and future creation of digital and optical devices. His work has also focused on the relationship of the physics and chemistry of growth to the attainment of novel materials, structures or device enhancements.

Kuech’s professorship is named after Milton J. and Maude Shoemaker, both UW–Madison alumni. Milton Shoemaker (B.S., 1921, ChE Certificate, 1936) founded Research Products Corporation of Madison, which produces air and water filtration devices. He also worked as a research chemical engineer for Du Pont, Sherwin Williams and the American Viscose Co., one of the first producers of rayon. Maude Shoemaker received her bachelor’s in economics in 1922 and was one of the first women in the nation in the field.

Calderon is an internationally recognized musician best known for his performance on the classical guitar, which he studied under the famed guitarist Andres Segovia. Calderon, who joined the School of Music in 1988, has performed over the last 20 years in his native Bolivia as well as China, Germany, Korea, Mexico and throughout the United States. He is also a cellist and composer. Selections of his work dating to 1973 have been released on compact discs and albums.

Loeser has taught a broad range of courses in the Department of Art since joining the faculty in 1991, including woodworking and sculpture, and is widely recognized for his decorative art work, especially in contemporary furniture and woodworking. His work has appeared in numerous exhibitions and one-person shows since 1981, including a exhibition of American craftwork that toured Europe from 1989 to 1993. His work appears at the Elvehjem Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the Smithsonian Institution. He has served as Three Dimensional Area Chair since 1994 and on the Faculty Senate since 1995.

Murphy joined the Department of Communication Arts in 1980 after teaching film production for many years in New Jersey, New York and Texas. He has been a filmmaker since 1971, and his short experimental films, including his best-known work, Print Generation (1973-74), have garnered numerous film festival prizes and are discussed in several books on American avant-garde cinema. His recent work includes Frame of Mind (1985) and Horicon (1993), both feature-length films. Murphy has lectured on and exhibited his films across the United States and abroad, served as a judge at several independent film festivals and written articles on experimental filmmakers. He teaches film production courses and seminars on screenwriting and avant-garde cinema.

The Emily Mead Baldwin Bell-Bascom Professorship in the Arts is open to tenured faculty members in the art, communication arts, dance, design, music and theater programs who have distinguished themselves as professors, performers or creators in the arts. It is a two-year, nonrenewable professorship with an $8,000 stipend per year and was created in 1989 by a bequest from Emily McKay and Ruth Barker to the University of Wisconsin Foundation.

Kuech’s appointment took effect immediately while the appointments of Calderon, Loeser and Murphy take effect July 1.