The College congratulates its newest professors emeriti

Board of Regents appoints two retired CLASS professors to faculty emeriti

The UH System Board of Regents in May appointed two retired College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences professors to the faculty emeriti – a body of scholars willing to assist and advise the university as requested, particularly in their areas of expertise.

The emeritus or emerita title is conferred only upon retired tenured faculty who made a significant contribution to the university through a long and distinguished record of scholarship, teaching and/or service.

Retired full and associate professors honored with emeritus status retain library, computing and parking privileges and other faculty courtesies.

This year’s CLASS Professors Emeriti are:

Professor Emeritus Peter Gingiss – Department of English

Professor Gingiss received his B.A. from Colgate University and his M.S. and Ph.D. from Northwestern University. He specializes in socioloinguistics and has been the backbone of the Linguisticis program fro many years.

Dr. Gingiss has published in both linguistics and compostion. He served on the exective committess of regional and national professional organizations in the field. Dr. Gingiss is the former president of the Linguisitics Association of the Southwest and served as the review editor of its journal, the Southwest Journal of Linguistics. He is the book-review editor fot he Linguistics Association. Dr. Gingiss directed the English Department’s Computer Writing lab for 12 years and taught both online and hybrid courses and received several grants to develop such courses.

Dr. Gingiss has been a generous friend to the Department of English and continues to contribute intellectually and materially to the UH community.

Professor Emeritus William N. Nelson – Department of Philosophy

Dr. Nelson has taught at the University of Houston since 1971. He earned his A.B. at Harvard University and his Ph.D. from Cornell University.

Professor Nelson published two books: On Justifying Democracy (Routledge, 1980; also translated into Spanish, as well as recently reissued in the RLE Political Science series) and Morality: What’s In It For Me? (Westview, 1991.) In addition, he published numerous articles in venues, including three of the premier journals in the field - Mind, The Journal of Philosophy and Philosophy and Public Affairs.

Professor Nelson has taught generations of students in introductory courses, including Introduction to Ethics and Logic. He also has taught a wide range of advanced level courses, which have formed a core part of the philosophy department curriculum, including Advanced Ethics, Biomedical Ethics, Political Philosophy and Philosophy of Law.

Dr. Nelson has a long and distinguished record of service to the deparment and the university. He served for six years as Chair of the Department of Philosophy and for many other years as Director of Undergraduate Studies.

During his career at the University of Houston, Dr. Nelson has made outstanding contributions to the institution as a teacher and mentor to our students. As a scholar, he contributed substantially to his field. Dr. Nelson is richly deserving of the title Professor Emeritus.