News from campus and beyond

Board of Trustees approve promotions, tenure for faculty


Last updated May 20, 2017

By News administrator

During its spring meeting Saturday, the Furman University Board of Trustees approved promotions and/or tenure for 17 faculty members and heard that seven new members will join the board on July 1.

The trustees also granted emeritus status to three professors who are retiring this summer and recognized the contributions of five board members whose terms will expire June 30.

The new trustees who will join the board this summer are Robert Lewis Blocker ’68 of Clinton, Ct., The Henry and Lucy Moses Dean of Music at Yale University; Lee C. Dilworth ’83 of Nashville, Tn., retired Chief Legal and Administrative Officer at American Pathology Partners; Robert E. Hill ’83 of Ponte Vedra Beach, Fl., retired President and Chief Executive Officer of Acosta Sales Company; Stanford J. Jennings ’84 of Alpharetta, Ga., Regional Sales Manager-Midwest for New Balance Athletics, Inc.; Rachelle Harley Thompson ’92 of Cary, N.C., attorney with McGuire Woods LLP; David J. Trone ’77 of Potomac, Md., owner and Chief Executive Officer of Total Wine & More; and John C. Yates of Atlanta, Ga., partner with Morris Manning & Martin LLP.

Hill, Jennings, Trone and Yates have served previous terms on the board.

Faculty members promoted to the rank of full professor were David Gross (music), Eli Hestermann (biology), Angelica Lozano-Alonso (modern languages and literatures), Akan Malici (politics and international affairs), Matthew Olson (music), Beth Pontari (psychology) and Robert Underwood (business and accounting).

Those receiving tenure and promoted to the rank of associate professor were Kerstin Blomquist (psychology), Carolyn Day (history), Katherine Kelly (education), Laura Kennedy (music), Jeanne Provost (English), Alison Roark (biology), Andrea Tartaro (computer science), Natalie The (health sciences) and Timothy Wardle (religion).

Christy Allen was promoted to the rank of associate librarian.

The board granted emeritus status to three retiring professors—Bruce Brown (Economics), Kirk Karwan (Business and Accounting) and Bill Prince (Modern Languages and Literatures).

All promotions, tenure and emeritus status become effective Aug. 1.

The board recognized five trustees whose terms will expire June 30.  They are Jolley Bruce Christman of Philadelphia, Pa., Douglas K. Freeman ’72 of Jacksonville, Fl., E. Erwin Maddrey II of Greenville, Ronald A. Malone ’81 of Travelers Rest and Paul L. Robertson III ’82 of Dunwoody, Ga.

For more information, contact Furman’s News and Media Relations office at 864-294-3107.

Contact Us
Clinton Colmenares
Director of News and Media Strategy