January 20, 2005

Honors

John O. McGinnis, professor of law, has been named the Class of 1940 Research Professor through Aug. 31, 2006.

A specialist in international trade and constitutional law, McGinnis recently was appointed to the advisory committee on the North American Free Trade Agreement and labor standards. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representatives has added him to the roster of Americans who can be appointed as panelists to resolve World Trade Organization disputes.

Some of his publications include The World Trade Constitution, Our Supermajor-itarian Constitution, and Presidential Review as Constitutional Restoration.

SonBinh Nguyen, associate professor of chemistry and director of the Integrated Science Program, has been named the Dow Chemical Company Research Professor.

Nguyen uses catalysis as a vehicle to study the development of environmentally friendly synthetic methods and novel materials. His research group has also developed unique polymer systems for the selective detection of DNA and the delivery of multi-drug anticancer chemotherapy.

Alexandra Owen, professor of history and gender studies, has been named the Board of Lady Managers of the Columbian Exposition Professor.

A social and cultural historian specializing in 19th and 20th century Britain, her research interests include interdisciplinary approaches to questions of gender and sexuality, and the history of medicine and psychology. Her most recent work focuses on issues of subjectivity and cultural modernity and the emergence of new understandings and experience of the self in the modern period.

Mary Pattillo, associate professor of sociology and African-American Studies, has been named the Arthur E. Andersen Teaching and Research Professor.

Pattillo’s interests include race and ethnicity, urban sociology, culture, and qualitative methods. She is investigator and co-investigator on two research grants funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and one supported by the Chicago Community Trust that focus on public housing and community change.