William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professors Appointments
April 12, 2022
Dear Colleagues,
I am pleased to announce the appointment of three of our colleagues as William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professors. As you know, the Warren Professorship is the highest recognition that Boston University bestows on a faculty member. Mark W. Grinstaff, Gary S. Lawson, and Dana L. Robert have been chosen to join this group. With these appointments, the number of active Warren Professors is 14.
Mark Grinstaff is a Professor of Translational Research, Biomedical Engineering, Chemistry, Materials Science and Engineering, and Medicine, as well as the Director of the NIH T32 Program in Biomaterials and the Director of the Nanotechnology Innovation Center at Boston University. His research activities encompass the synthesis of new macromolecules and biomaterials, self-assembly chemistry, imaging contrast agents, drug delivery, and wound repair. His eponymous research group conducts interdisciplinary research in the areas of biological and macromolecular chemistry. Professor Grinstaff is a fellow of the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES), the winner of the 2018 Clemson Award for Applied Research from the Society of Biomaterials, and recipient of the 2015 Charles DeLisi Award among many others. He is the author or coauthor on more than 225 peer-reviewed manuscripts. He earned his BA at Occidental College and his PhD at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Gary Lawson is the Philip S. Beck Professor of Law at the School of Law and the Associate Dean for Intellectual Life. His areas of research and teaching interests are administrative law, constitutional law, and jurisprudence. He has authored eight editions of a textbook on administrative law and coauthored a textbook on constitutional law. He has authored or coauthored nearly one hundred scholarly articles. He is a founding member of the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies. In 2017 he was awarded the University’s Metcalf Prize for Excellence in Teaching. Professor Lawson twice clerked for Justice Antonin Scalia. He earned his BA from Claremont Men’s College and his JD from the Yale University School of Law.
Dana Robert of the School of Theology is Truman Collins Professor of World Christianity and History of Mission. She is the first member of the School of Theology faculty to be named a Warren Professor. Professor Robert directs the Center for Global Christianity and Mission. Her research and teaching interests include mission history, World Christianity, and mission theology, and she has published extensively on these subjects. She is an editor of the journal Church History and in 2016–2017 held a Luce Fellowship at Leibniz Institute of European History in Mainz, Germany. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and in 2017 received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Missiology. Professor Robert is an active lay United Methodist. She received her BA from Louisiana State University and her MA, MPhil, and PhD from Yale University.
These appointments conclude the process initiated in the fall of 2021 with a call for nominations. Professors Grinstaff, Lawson, and Robert join eleven other active faculty members who hold the title of Warren Professor:
- Professor George J. Annas, School of Public Health, Department of Health Law, Policy & Management, 2009
- Professor Azer Bestavros, College of Arts & Sciences, Department of Computer Science, 2017
- Professor Christopher S. Chen, College of Engineering, Biomedical Engineering and Materials Science & Engineering, 2019
- Professor Catherine E. Costello, School of Medicine, Department of Biochemistry, Physiology & Biophysics, 2013
- Professor Michael E. Hasselmo, College of Arts & Sciences, Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, 2019
- Professor Keith N. Hylton, School of Law, Law and Economics, 2013
- Professor Ha Jin, College of Arts & Sciences, Department of English, 2019
- Professor Nancy Kopell, College of Arts & Sciences, Department of Mathematics & Statistics, 2009
- Professor Laurence Kotlikoff, College of Arts & Sciences, Department of Economics, 2009
- Professor Ann McKee, School of Medicine, Neurology and Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, 2019
- Professor Robert Pinsky, College of Arts & Sciences, Department of English, 2015
Warren Professors Emeriti include retired Professors Bonnie Costello (College of Arts & Sciences, Department of English, 2017), Wendy Gordon (School of Law, Legal Instruction, 2011), and Eugene Stanley (College of Arts & Sciences, Department of Physics, 2011). The late Thomas Kunz, Howard Eichenbaum, and James Winn were also awarded this honor.
Through their teaching, research, scholarship, and mentorship, Professors Grinstaff, Lawson, and Robert have served Boston University with distinction—enriching the academic experience for our students and raising our stature as a leading research university. Please join me in congratulating these devoted citizens of Boston University.
Sincerely,
Robert A. Brown
President