HWS News
2 May 2025 • Alums • Faculty Professors Burns and Cummings to be Honored with Distinguished Faculty Awards
Former faculty recognized for their inspiration and dedication.
The Hobart Alumni Association and William Smith Alumnae Association will honor Professor Emeritus of Education John W. Burns P’89 and the late Professor Emeritus of English Peter M. Cummings P’92 with Distinguished Faculty Awards on Friday, June 6, during Reunion.
Established in 1990, the Distinguished Faculty Award recognizes the importance that graduates of HWS place on the contributions of outstanding faculty members of the past for their impact as teachers, mentors and scholars.
The award ceremony will be held at 1:30 p.m. in the Rosensweig Learning Commons of the Warren Hunting Smith Library. A livestream will be available here.
Alumni nominations submitted in support of Burns and Cummings were a testament to the significant impact of the teaching and mentorship of Professors Burns and Cummings.
“Professor Burns allowed us to question and explore and above all find creative methods to teach the youth we were working with,” says Christine Spring ’88, a special education teacher at Liverpool High School in Liverpool, N.Y. “He modeled a form of evaluation that was based on caring, respect and belief in potential. His example helped form the tenets that guided my own teaching for over three decades and my experiences in the HWS Education program remain dear to my heart.”
“Peter Cummings was instrumental in not only teaching me to effectively use language but to recognize how important the effective use of language is,” says William Alexander Marsh ’05, the principal and lead trial attorney at The Law Office of William Alexander Marsh. “As a trial attorney, I attribute much of my success both in writing and in presentation to him.”
Burns taught Education at HWS from 1971-2005. He joined as an Associate Professor of Education before being named Professor of Education in 1982 and served as the Department Chair until 2001. His courses included “Analysis of Teaching in Elementary and Special Education,” “The Education of Racial Minorities in the U.S.” and “Language Experience and Schooling.” He was very involved in the community and served on many local organizations as a board member. These included Phi Delta Kappa, the National Council for Social Studies and the NYS Consortium of Social Educators. He published many articles in Social Science Record and books on the context of reading in education, including Resource Guide for Children’s Books in Children’s Hands. Burns earned his bachelor’s degree from the State University of New York at Binghamton, a master’s degree from the State University of New York at Cortland and a doctorate degree in education from the University at Buffalo. Prior to his arrival at HWS, Burns served as a graduate assistant at the University at Buffalo and an Assistant Professor of Education at Buffalo State University.
His former students recall his dedication to teaching and his students.
“Professor Burns was an inspiration to me as I sought out my minor in Education and considered teaching as an option,” says Julie Bazan ’93, the director of career development at Cornell University. “A great professor, good mentor and overall great person he represented the teaching program wonderfully.”
“Professor Burns’ work on his students’ behalf required hours and hours of travel to area schools where he coached and monitored HWS student teachers,” says Michael J. Hanna ’68, P'99, the former athletic director at HWS. “In that role, John was an important and impressive ambassador for the Colleges.”
An expert on Shakespeare, Cummings taught English at HWS from 1970-2008, holding roles as Assistant Professor, Associate Professor and Professor. He served as the Chair of the Department of English and Comparative Literature from 1981-1983. Cummings led popular courses on Shakespeare, including “Shakespeare’s Language,” “Shakespeare: Histories and Comedies” and “Shakespeare: Tragedies” and study abroad programs to Bath, England. He was published widely on Shakespeare and other poets, in addition to writing some 700 sonnets of his own with nearly 100 published. During the 1983-84 academic year, Cummings received the Mellon Individual Faculty Development Award. Outside of the classroom, he served on several committees at HWS, including the Committee on the Faculty, the President’s Advisory Council, the Grievance Committee and the Committee on Tenure and Promotion. In 2007, he received multiple prizes at the World Order of Narrative and Formalist Poets competition. Prior to teaching at HWS, Cummings was an assistant Lecturer for the Department of English at Cornell, an Instructor for the Department of English at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark and an Instructor for the Department of English at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Comparative Literature: Greek and English from Cornell University, a master’s degree in English Literature from Cornell and a doctorate in English Literature from the University of North Carolina. Cummings passed away in 2014.
Former students praised Cummings for his passion for English and his compassion for his students.
“There is no way to properly describe the profound impact that Peter had on my life,” says Thea R. Engst ’08, a beverage consultant and writer for Recipe Developer. “His love and enthusiasm for literature was infectious. He made us laugh, he challenged us, he encouraged us. Every time I left his class I was invigorated.”
“Peter Cummings showed a deep involvement in the world of ideas, but in a way that was really exemplary in the classroom,” says Herman W. Tull ’78, a visiting associate professor of religious studies at Lafayette College. “That is, along with all he taught, he also evinced a joy in intellectual engagement that for me was an outstanding part of my education at HWS.”
Learn more about the Distinguished Faculty Awards.
See the schedule and register for Reunion.
Top: Professor Emeritus of Education John W. Burns P’89 and the late Professor Emeritus of English Peter M. Cummings P’92
