Two SUNY Potsdam Faculty Members Named to Distinguished Ranks

SUNY Board of Trustees Appoints SUNY Potsdam Faculty Members Dr. Fadi Bou-Abdallah and Dr. Derek C. Maus as SUNY Distinguished Professors

Potsdam, NY (05/24/2024) — The State University of New York Board of Trustees recently approved the appointments of 29 faculty to the Distinguished Faculty Rank, including two faculty members from SUNY Potsdam.

Dr. Fadi Bou-Abdallah, a professor of chemistry, and Dr. Derek C. Maus, a professor of English, were both named SUNY Distinguished Professors and will now join the SUNY Distinguished Academy.

"Especially in light of the immense challenges that the last year have brought both to me personally and to the wider academic communities in which I work and live, receiving this recognition for my scholarly work is particularly humbling. Moreover, those of us working in the humanities haven't felt the spotlight shined upon us very often in recent years, so this acknowledgment of my work's significance is all the more gratifying," Dr. Maus said.

"I am deeply honored by this prestigious recognition and extend my heartfelt gratitude to my dedicated team of undergraduate researchers, past and present, as well as my collaborators and colleagues whose support contributed to this distinguished promotion. Collaborating with leaders in the field of iron homeostasis, both nationally and internationally, has been instrumental in advancing our research endeavors and providing enriching opportunities for our students," Dr. Bou-Abdallah said.

The Distinguished Professorship is conferred upon faculty having achieved national or international prominence and a distinguished reputation within the individual's chosen field through significant contributions to the research and scholarship, or through artistic performance or achievement in the fine and performing arts. The appointment constitutes a promotion to the State University's highest academic rank and is solely conferred by the SUNY Board of Trustees.

Dr. Fadi Bou-Abdallah, professor of chemistry at SUNY Potsdam, is a world leader in the fields of ferritin and iron biology. His research focuses on understanding the intricate structure-function relationships of various proteins involved in the metabolism of iron using a range of bioanalytical, biophysical, and molecular biology techniques. With over $3 million in National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health funding, he leads a vibrant undergraduate research program and collaborates with leading scientists worldwide. Dr. Bou-Abdallah has trained and mentored more than 55 undergraduate students, exemplifying his commitment to academic excellence through a prolific publication record of 65 peer-reviewed papers to date, many co-authored by undergraduates and featured on prestigious journal covers. As a recipient of two prestigious awards, the Henry-Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award in 2016, and the Research Corporation for Science Advancement Cottrell Scholar Award in 2017, his innovative research includes the development of a procedure, currently under patent review, to produce human heteropolymeric ferritins with broad potential applications in drug delivery, biomedical diagnostics and vaccine development. His leadership spans over a decade chairing the Northern New York Section of the American Chemical Society and organizing regional student research symposia. He received a 2016 Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities.

"Over the past two decades, I have devoted my professional career to training and mentoring undergraduates and highlighting the significance of undergraduate research in student retention and the evolution of scientific inquiry. My primary goal is to ensure that these experiences contribute to genuine knowledge and scholarly advancements in chemistry and chemical biology," Dr. Bou-Abdallah said. "I'm profoundly thankful for my students' dedication, perseverance, and recognition of research as a collaborative and evolving process that thrives on teamwork and passion."

Dr. Derek C. Maus, professor of English at SUNY Potsdam, is a central figure in contemporary American literary studies and in American humor studies. His work on satire in both American and Russian literatures has been particularly influential, and his book "Unvarnishing Reality" (South Carolina University Press, 2011) remains the only book-length comparative study of American and Russian satirical fiction from the Cold War period. Although this early scholarly interest remains prominent in his work, his more recent scholarship has engaged in a wide-ranging survey of African American satire within the historical and cultural context of the post-Civil Rights United States. As part of this effort, he published the first book-length critical studies on both Colson Whitehead and Percival Everett. Along with his SUNY Potsdam colleague Dr. James J. Donahue, he has also co-edited two well-regarded collections of new scholarly essays about contemporary African American satire, "Post-Soul Satire" (University Press of Mississippi, 2014) and "Greater Atlanta" (University Press of Mississippi, 2024). His next book project is a comparative study of representations of Blackness in contemporary American and Canadian fiction, which will be published by the Ohio State University Press in 2026. He has held visiting fellowships in Canada (at McGill and Concordia) and in St. Petersburg, Russia, and taught as a Fulbright scholar in Graz, Austria in 2010. He received a 2015 Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities.

"Although the value of publishing highly specialized literary-critical scholarship isn't always as immediately clear to outside observers as research in STEM fields, for example, I can attest that my scholarly work not only arises from the undergraduate teaching that I do quite a lot of here at SUNY Potsdam, but also feeds back into that teaching to help me use literature as a means to help my students interpret the increasingly complex world around them more effectively," Dr. Maus said. "A lot of people -- colleagues all around the world, students, friends -- have helped me to be able to do this work and this award should be as much a recognition of their contributions as it is of my achievements. I'm deeply grateful for all of the shoulders upon which I've been able to stand throughout the years in order to get to this moment."

To learn about the SUNY Distinguished Academy, visit www.suny.edu/distinguished-academy.

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