{"id":32307,"date":"2026-05-13T20:30:52","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T20:30:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/?p=32307"},"modified":"2026-08-27T13:07:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T13:07:13","slug":"five-faculty-members-named-endowed-chairs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/2026\/05\/five-faculty-members-named-endowed-chairs\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Faculty Members Named Endowed Professors"},"content":{"rendered":"

President Suzanne M. Rivera and Provost Lisa Anderson-Levy are pleased to announce that five professors have been named endowed chairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These appointments take effect on September 1, 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m honored to work with amazing faculty who are prolific scholars and who maintain active research agendas while remaining deeply committed to service at the college,\u201d says Anderson-Levy. \u201cThey are skilled educators and mentors who challenge and support students inside and outside the classroom.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following faculty members were appointed:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sarah Boyer \u2014 O.T. Walter Professor of Biology<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Professor<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Professor Boyer holds a bachelor’s degree from Swarthmore College, a master’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and a PhD from Harvard University. Her lab studies the evolution of mite harvesters (tiny arachnids) in New Zealand, supported by a National Science Foundation grant. She and her students also study the reproductive biology of local daddy long-legs found on campus and at Ordway Field Station.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Darcy Burgund \u2014 (inaugural) Weingarden Professor of Neuroscience<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Darcy<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Professor Burgund has a bachelor\u2019s degree from Skidmore College and a PhD from the University of Minnesota. Her research focuses on visual cognition and memory, especially how people recognize objects, using methods such as divided-visual-field tasks and functional magnetic resonance imaging to study brain activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Julie Dolan \u2014 Mitau Professor of Political Science<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Julie<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Professor Dolan earned a bachelor\u2019s degree from St. Olaf College and a PhD from American University. She has since written or co-written several books, including Representative Bureaucracy: Classic Readings and Continuing Controversies<\/em> (with David H. Rosenbloom) and four editions of Women and Politics: Paths to Power and Political Influence<\/em> (with Melissa Deckman and Michele Swers).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Duchess Harris \u2014 DeWitt Wallace Professor of American Studies<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Professor<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Professor Harris holds a bachelor\u2019s degree from the University of Pennsylvania, a PhD from the University of Minnesota, and a Juris Doctor from the Mitchell Hamline School of Law. In 2026, she published two books: Black Feminist Politics: From the Voting Rights Act to the Kamala Harris Vice Presidency (1965\u20132025)<\/em> and Meghan Markle: Essays on Monarchy, Race, and Colonialism<\/em>, <\/em>co-authored with Julie Schwietert Collazo. Among several local and national roles, Professor Harris has also served as the Minneapolis Civil Rights Commissioner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chris Wells \u2014 John Holl Professor of Environmental Studies<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Professor<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Professor Wells has a bachelor\u2019s degree from Williams College and master\u2019s and PhD degrees from the University of Wisconsin\u2013Madison. He is the author of Car Country: An Environmental History<\/em> and Nature\u2019s Crossroads: The Twin Cities and Greater Minnesota<\/em> (co-edited with George Vrtis). He is also the editor of Environmental Justice in Postwar America: A Documentary Reader<\/em>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The five professors teach in biology, neuroscience, political science, American studies, and environmental studies. <\/p>","protected":false},"author":881,"featured_media":32329,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","mediatype-articles"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t