Distinguished Faculty Award
2025 DFA RECIPIENTS
John W. Burns P’89, Professor Emeritus of Education
Peter M. Cummings P'92, Professor Emeritus of English
Professor Emeritus of Education John W. Burns P’89 and the late Professor Emeritus of English Peter M. Cummings P’92 will be honored as the 2025 recipients of the Distinguished Faculty Award on Friday, June 6 at 1:30 p.m. in the Rosensweig Learning Commons of the Warren Hunting Smith Library.
The event will be livestreamed here.
The Award
The Distinguished Faculty Award was established in 1990 by the Hobart Alumni Association and the William Smith Alumnae Association. This joint award of the Associations recognizes the importance that graduates place on the contributions of outstanding faculty members of the past – for their impact as teachers, mentors and scholars. Nominations for the award are sought by all alums and are professors who are retired or have moved on from HWS for more than five years or are deceased.
One of the original Committee members noted, "It is our way of recognizing and honoring those who were our mentors, who molded us and nurtured us during our intellectual awakening, who taught us our limits and challenged our capabilities, and who inspired the best in us. More than anything else during our college years, outstanding teachers made the experience so valuable, and we recognize these professors as worthy of particular distinction and honor."
The Distinguished Faculty Award Committee
William H. Tierney ’90, P’20, Co-Chair
Melissa Fasolo Gorczynski ’98, P ’26, Co-Chair
Terry K. Smith '80
Lawrence J. Moultrie ’04
Josephina M. Rago '11
Maxwell I. Potter '14
Ariel E. Trent '14
Audrey G.R. Platt ’21
DFA RECIPIENTS
2024
Mary Ellen Hosking P’74*
Alan Frishman P’00
2023
2022
T .Dunbar Moodie (Presented in 2023)
2021
Daniel J. Singal (Presented in 2023)
2020
Thomas J. Glover (Presented in 2023)
2019
2018
Elena Ciletti
Patrick A. McGuire L.H.D.'12
2017
Jim Crenner
Benjamin Daise*
Maureen Flynn P'09, P'12, P'16*
2016
Roger Farrand '49, P'78*
Lois F. Nellis '46*
Ann B. Oaks '74, P'84, P'85, P'89
2014
2013
2012
Peter R. Beckman
Leonard Lawson L.H.D. '68*
Tom Millington
John George Van Deusen P'43*
2011
Mary Gerhart
Joel Kerlan P'89
Deborah Tall*
2010
Joseph N. Abraham, L.H.D. '81*
Donald L. Woodrow P'83, GP'15
2008
Valerie C. Saiving
William G. Hosking '47, P'74*
2007
2006
2004
John Loftus P'75, P'76, P'91*
Toni Flores P'94*
2003
Richard Heaton P'86*
Marvin Bram P'91, L.H.D. ’99
2002
Joseph DiGangi
Eugene F. Murphy P'74, L.H.D. '90*
2001
Ralph Bullard*
Kenneth Carle P'82, P'84, P'90
2000
Benjamin P. Atkinson, L.H.D. '86*
Otto Eugene Schoen-René*
John Lydenberg*
Lindsay A. J. Lafford P'65, P'71, L.H.D. '87*
1999
1998
Theodore Tellefsen Odell '20, Sc. D.'67*
Irving O. Bentsen '54
1997
Charles Delamater Vail '59, L.H.D.'04*
John Archer Silver*
Charles John Rose '76*
Francis Phillip Nash*
Joseph H. McDaniels, LL.D. '11*
1996
Abigail Mosey*
Brooks Otis, L.H.D. '77*
1995
John Muirheid*
Maynard O. Smith P'76
1993
Richard A. Ryan*
William Pitt Durfee, LL.D. '22*
Walter Hetherington Durfee '08, Sc.D. '59*
1992
Elon Howard Eaton*
Edward E. Griffith, L.H.D. '88*
1991
Milton Haight Turk, LL.D. '38*
Kathryn Dapp Cook, L.H.D. '84*
1990
Horace Webster*
John Towler*
Hamilton Lanphere Smith, D.Sc. 1900*
* deceased