October 3, 2003: Volume 59, Number 4

Profs. Brown, Rudko, Weiner named to endowed chairs

Professors Clifford Brown, Michael Rudko and Terry Weiner will be awarded endowed chairs at a ceremony on Tuesday, Oct. 7, at 4:30 p.m. in the Nott Memorial.

Brown will be named the Robert Porter Patterson Professor of Government; Rudko, the Horace E. Dodge III Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering; and Weiner, the Chauncey H. Winters Professor of Comparative Social Analysis.

A reception in the Nott Memorial will be held immediately following the ceremony.

Brown graduated magna cum laude in 1964 from Harvard, where he later earned his master's degree and Ph.D. After teaching at the State University of New York at Albany and Siena College, he joined the Union faculty in 1978. A political science generalist, he has taught a range of courses, from contemporary American politics to Western Europe in world affairs, has led the College's Internship Program in Washington, D.C., and set the standard for exhibits in the Mandeville Gallery with both the Erie Canal and Solomon Northup exhibits. He has also worked in the field as a political consultant, and he served as issues director for John Anderson's presidential campaign in 1980. He is the author (with Lynda Powell and Clyde Wilcox) of Serious Money: Fundraising and Contributing in Presidential Nomination Campaigns (Cambridge University Press, 1996), in which he noted that the presidential nominating system works to keep some of the best candidates on the sidelines.

The Robert Porter Patterson Professorship in Government was established in 1956 by friends of Mr. Patterson, a member of the Class of 1912 and a prominent lawyer, soldier, jurist, and statesman. He was appointed Secretary of War by President Harry Truman.

Rudko received his bachelor's degree, master's degree, and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Syracuse University. After working for the Syracuse University Research Corp. and the General Electric Co., he began teaching at the Universite de Sherbrooke in Quebec. He joined the Union faculty in 1984 and has taught courses ranging from the Freshman Preceptorial to advanced topics in digital signal processing. His college service included 10 years as chair of the Department of Electrical Engineering. A strong proponent of study abroad for engineers, he created the exchange with Rouen as well as finding other study abroad opportunities for engineers, and for many years he has been a mentor for foreign students. He has been an invited professor at the Universite du Littoral and the Universite de Lille, in France. His research interests are in the areas of artificial intelligence and bioengineering applications.

The Horace E. Dodge III Professorship in Electrical and Computer Engineering was created by a gift from Horace E. Dodge III, of the Class of 1946. A former engineer with the General Electric Co., Mr. Dodge was a philanthropist at the time of his death in 1996. He received an honorary doctor of humane letters degree from Union in 1986.

Weiner has the distinction of chairing two academic departments at Union, the Department of Sociology and Anthropology (1978-1986) and the Department of Political Science (currently). After receiving his undergraduate degree in sociology and history from the University of Illinois at Chicago, he went on to earn his master's degree and Ph.D. in sociology from the University of North Carolina. He joined the Union faculty in 1974 and has developed courses in such areas as health care politics, the sociology of medicine, political sociology, and issues in American elections. He also has published in the major journals of political science and sociology and health, including the Journal of Politics, the American Journal of Sociology, and the American Journal of Public Health. He was associate dean of the faculty for seven years and acting dean of the faculty for one year; he started the College's M.A.T. program and, as dean and department chair, has increased the presence of women on the faculty.

The Chauncey H. Winters Professorship in Comparative Social Analysis was established through a bequest from Chauncey H. Winters, of the Class of 1912. The professorship is one of three created at the College through the support of Mr. Winters.

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