Announcement from Dean Kiss and Provost Dunn:
We are pleased to announce that Dr. Nadja Cech and Dr. Nicholas Oberlies have been selected as the inaugural Patricia A. Sullivan Distinguished Professors. They are both outstanding professors and teacher-scholars in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.
The Patricia A. Sullivan Distinguished Professorship in the Sciences was established to honor the late chancellor for her service to the university from January 1,1995, until August 31, 2008. Dr. Sullivan died in 2009. A native of Staten Island, NY, Dr. Sullivan was a graduate of St. John’s University, and earned her Master’s and Ph.D. degrees in biology from New York University. She came to UNCG from Texas Woman’s University, where she was Vice President for Academic Affairs for seven years. She was also Interim President there for a year. From 1981-1987, she was dean of the college at Salem College in Winston-Salem.
Dr. Nadja Cech started as an Assistant Professor at UNCG in 2001 and has moved up to the rank of Professor. These promotions were based on her excellence as an outstanding teacher-scholar. As a teacher, she has received a Teaching Excellence Award and the Thomas Undergraduate Research Mentor Award. With respect to research, Nadja has received UNCG’s Research Excellence Award and has been highly successful with the NIH, including a serving as Principal Investigator of a grant with over $1 million in funding and a department-wide training grant that funds many of our graduate students. Evidence of Nadja’s successful training of researchers is that her researchers have garnered positions in graduate schools, industrial positions, postdoctoral positions, facility directors, and faculty positions. She also has a strong commitment to equal opportunity and diversity.
Dr. Nicholas Oberlies started his independent research position at Research Triangle Institute and moved to UNCG in 2009 as an Associate Professor and since been promoted to Professor. He not only is an impressive teacher but also increased his already impressive research portfolio. In addition to the natural product courses that Nick teaches, he has taken on significant service duties and has mentored many researchers. He has obtained multiple grants valued at several million dollars and has published more than 40 papers since 2015. His research productivity earned him the University’s Research Scholar award. Nick is very enthusiastic and passionate about his work as a teacher-scholar.
We are pleased that Drs. Cech & Oberlies will be the first recipients of the Patricia A. Sullivan Distinguished Professorships in the Sciences.
