Five Faculty Members Appointed to Endowed Professorships
Five faculty members were recently named to endowed professorships:
![Allen Kuharski](https://www.swarthmore.edu/sites/default/files/styles/main_page_image_floating/public/assets/images/news-archive-2009-2011/allen.jpg.webp?itok=o3Rbfr08)
Allen Kuharski to the Stephen Lang Professorship of Performing Arts, awarded to a member of the faculty whose teaching or professional activity promotes excellence in the performing arts. A member of the faculty since 1990, Kuharski has published widely and plays that he has translated or productions for which he has served as dramaturge have been performed nationally and internationally. He also co-founded semester abroad programs in theater, dance, and environmental studies.
![Steven Maurer '67](https://www.swarthmore.edu/sites/default/files/styles/main_page_image_floating/public/assets/images/news-archive-2009-2011/maurer%280%29.jpg.webp?itok=Et9lsOjm)
Stephen Maurer '67 to the Neil R. Grabois '57 Professorship in the Natural Sciences and Engineering, established in 2010 by Eugene M. Lang '38 to honor Grabois, a mathematician and educator. Maurer joined Swarthmore's faculty in 1979 and is an authority on discrete mathematics, writing in mathematics, and pre-college curriculum and enrichment activities. His research has been in combinatorics, with forays into mathematical biology, economics, and anthropology.
![Robert Paley](https://www.swarthmore.edu/sites/default/files/styles/main_page_image_floating/public/assets/images/news-archive-2009-2011/paley%280%29.jpg.webp?itok=jsUbWndE)
Robert Paley to the Edmund Allen Professorship in Chemistry, established in 1938 by a trust set up by his daughter Laura Allen, friend of the College and niece of Manager Rachel Hillborn. Paley is an organic chemist with special expertise in modern synthetic organic chemistry. His research group specializes in developing new methods for synthetic organic chemistry.
![Peter Schmidt](https://www.swarthmore.edu/sites/default/files/styles/main_page_image_floating/public/assets/images/news-archive-2009-2011/schmidt%280%29.jpg.webp?itok=9Bxrzpdq)
Peter Schmidt to the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professorship, which supports and encourages a "scholar-teacher whose enthusiasm for learning, commitment to teaching, and sincere personal interest in students will enhance the learning process and make an effective contribution to the undergraduate community." Schmidt is an authority on U.S. literature with particular focus on fiction and poetry of the 20th century.
![Janet Talvachhia](https://www.swarthmore.edu/sites/default/files/styles/main_page_image_floating/public/assets/images/news-archive-2009-2011/janet.jpg.webp?itok=NwmzzFRW)
Janet Talvacchia to the Albert L. and Edna Pownall Buffington Professorship in Mathematics, established in 1964 by a bequest from Albert Buffington, Class of 1896, in honor of his wife, Edna Pownall Buffington, Class of 1898. Talvacchia's research interests include symplectic and differential geometry and geometric analysis. She joined the faculty in 1989.