A&S faculty members recognized with prestigious endowed professorships
Arts & Sciences proudly recognizes 12 outstanding tenured faculty members with endowed professorships to begin in the 2025-2026 academic year. These new appointments reflect the following faculty members’ commitment to groundbreaking research, innovative teaching and mentorship, substantive collaboration with their students and dedicated service to their fields, their departments and William & Mary as a whole.
Walter G. Mason Professor of Religion
Andrew Tobolowsky has been awarded this eminent scholar professorship in recognition of his excellence in teaching, scholarship and service to the university. As he ends his term as the Robert & Sarah Boyd Associate Professor of Religious Studies this spring, his new appointment acknowledges his role as an asset both to his department and to W&M. He has distinguished himself as a scholar working at the intersection of Judaism, the Hebrew Bible and the history of the ancient Near East and classical Mediterranean, publishing an impressive fifteen journal articles and book chapters and four monographs, with two more books under contract. Beyond his research, he actively contributes to his field as a member of the editorial boards of the Ancient Jew Review and Currents in Biblical Research. Tobolowsky’s teaching has drawn the highest of praise from his students, who applaud his “contagious passion” and “devotion to clarity and criticality.” Outside the classroom, he has served W&M on numerous committees for A&S, the Center for the Liberal Arts and the Judaic Studies Program, as well as his home department.
James Pinckney Harrison Professor of History
Betsy Konefal has been selected for this appointment awarded to a scholar of non-U.S. history. Currently an associate professor in her department, she is a leading researcher of modern Latin America. Her first monograph, For Every Indio Who Falls: A History of Maya Activism in Guatemala, 1960-1990 (University of New Mexico Press, 2010), received the 2011 Choice Outstanding Title Award and is being translated into Spanish in Guatemala, demonstrating her international stature as a scholar. Her second book project, The Nun and the Volcano: Revolutionary Histories in Cold-War Guatemala, is in its final stages. Konefal is a prolific historian, with nine journal articles and book chapters published or forthcoming since 2018. Her scholarship has earned her multiple honors, including a Fulbright Fellowship in Ecuador in 2013 and a Plumeri Award for Faculty Excellence from W&M in 2023. She is also highly accomplished in her work with undergraduates, directing student research on declassified documents concerning human rights violations in Argentina, Paraguay and Guatemala and receiving a W&M Alumni Association Award for Teaching Excellence in 2011.
William E. Pullen Professor of American History
Hiroshi Kitamura has been honored with this professorship in United States history. An “America in the World” historian primarily focused on the nexus of diplomacy and culture in U.S.-Japan and U.S.-East Asian relations, he is the author of two books, Screening Enlightenment: Hollywood and the Cultural Reconstruction of Defeated Japan (Cornell University Press, 2010) and Yodogawa Nagaharu:“Evangelist of Cinema” and Modern Japan (Nagoya, 2024), along with numerous peer-reviewed articles. As the director of international relations and a faculty affiliate for the Global Research Institute as well as an associate professor of history, his work on campus extends far beyond his home department. He is a principal investigator of the U.S.-Japan Baseball Diplomacy Project, funded by the United States Embassy in Tokyo, which has extended research opportunities to undergraduates and spawned the W&M symposium “150 Years of U.S.-Japan Baseball Diplomacy,” an oral history project and a U.S.-Japan little league exchange held in Kamakura, Japan, in August 2024.
Frances L. and Edwin L. Cummings Professor
Chinua Thelwell has received this eminent scholar professorship in Africana studies in recognition of his exemplary record in teaching, scholarship and service to the university. Currently an associate professor of history and Africana studies and director of the Africana Studies Program, as well as a core faculty member of the Asian & Pacific Islander Studies Program, he is the editor of the volume Theater and Cultural Politics for a New World (Routledge, 2016) and author of the monograph Exporting Jim Crow: Blackface Minstrelsy in South Africa and Beyond (University of Massachusetts Press, 2020). The latter title was a finalist for the 2021 Outstanding First Book Prize awarded by the Association for the Study of the Worldwide African Diaspora (ASWAD). As an instructor, Thelwell has impressively expanded W&M’s Africana studies course offerings, including a senior capstone research course and a highly sought-after course on the history of hip hop. He has similarly enriched the history department’s offerings with courses covering such topics as Asian Pacific American history. He has served the university on multiple committees in history and Asian & Pacific Islander studies, in his capacity as advisor for several senior honors theses and in his mentorship of students in the Africana House.
Class of 1961 Professor
Georgia Irby has been awarded this eminent scholar professorship for her outstanding achievements in research, teaching and departmental and university service and leadership. A professor of classical studies and editor of the Classical Journal, she is a remarkably prolific scholar. She is the sole author of five books, co-author of five more and editor or co-editor of three volumes, among many other publications. With an exceptional mastery of classical languages and a strong background in mathematics, she has established herself as a groundbreaking scholar of ancient science and geography. Irby is also highly engaged in teaching undergraduates, having published textbooks on introductory Latin, generously offered independent studies and extra sections of her courses on top of her normal teaching load and mentored student researchers toward impressive publications and conference presentations. She served the university as classical studies department chair during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as parliamentarian for A&S and vice president of the Alpha Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa. As a member of the first cohort of fellows at the Center for the Liberal Arts, she played an important role in crafting W&M’s COLL curriculum, a core element of the university’s liberal arts education.
Class of 2026 Professor
John Riofrio is the recipient of this W&M Student Professorship in honor of his investment in students as co-learners and fellow scholars. Currently serving as an associate professor and program director in Hispanic studies, he is the author of Continental Shifts: Migration, Representation, and the Struggle for Justice in Latin(o) America (University of Texas Press, 2015), an innovative study examining Latino identities in hemispheric perspective. At W&M, he was instrumental in shaping the COLL curriculum and was part of the first cohort of fellows at the Center for the Liberal Arts. He was also the inaugural mentor for the POSSE Scholars program.
Thomas Arthur Vaughan Jr. Memorial Professor in Economics
John Parman, professor of economics, has been awarded this eminent scholar professorship, reflecting his outstanding record in teaching, research and service, for which he was previously honored with the Class of 2026 Professorship. His current research on issues of race, education and health in economic history includes projects on the effects of children’s health on families’ fertility and decisions to invest in education and on intergenerational correlations between health and economic outcomes. A prolific scholar, he is the author of multiple articles, many of them award-winning. He has also written several working papers, including two with W&M undergraduate co-authors. As an instructor at the undergraduate and graduate levels, Parman has received stellar feedback from his students, who deeply appreciate his innovative teaching methods and emphasis on applied learning, encompassing experiments and local archival research. Outside the classroom, he has advised a number of independent study and honors students, many of whom have gone on to prestigious research positions and graduate programs. His achievements in undergraduate teaching and mentorship earned him the Plumeri Award for Faculty Excellence in 2018. Parman has served his department, A&S and the university as a member of numerous committees and as director of the Center for the Liberal Arts. He has likewise served his field as co-editor of book reviews for the Journal of Economic History.
Ken Kambis Professor in Kinesiology & Health Sciences
Robin Looft-Wilson is the recipient of this Term Distinguished Professorship in the Department of Kinesiology. Awarded for a three-year term, this appointment recognizes Looft-Wilson’s excellence in research and demonstrated commitment to teaching and student mentorship. Currently a professor of kinesiology and Neuroscience Program affiliate, she is the recipient of multiple prestigious grants from the National Institutes of Health for research into how genetics and other risk factors affect artery function and contribute to cardiovascular disease. At W&M, she is known to her colleagues and students as a highly thoughtful and well-prepared instructor. She has won multiple awards for her teaching, including the Dean’s Distinguished Lecturer (2011-2012), the Coco Faculty Fellowship for Research and Teaching Excellence (2011-2012) and the Alumni Fellowship Award for Excellence in Teaching (2009). Looft-Wilson is also a dedicated mentor to undergraduates in her research laboratory, 21 of whom have been co-authors on nine publications in top journals of cardiovascular physiology. As a member of an advisory board for the American Physiological Society, she has helped provide fellowships and mentorship for underrepresented undergraduates since 2012.
Mansfield Associate Professor
Kelebogile Zvobgo has been honored with this Term Distinguished Associate Professorship, open to tenured candidates in any A&S department or program, in recognition of her outstanding achievements in research, teaching and mentorship. She currently holds multiple positions, including the Provost’s Distinguished Associate Professor of Government, a faculty affiliate at the Global Research Institute, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution and a Stephen M. Kellen Term Member at the Council on Foreign Relations. A leading researcher in the fields of transitional justice and human rights, with an emphasis on civil society’s role in the creation and implementation of truth commissions, she earned “best dissertation” awards from the human rights divisions of the American Political Science Association and the International Studies Association and has published numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals and public-facing outlets alike. At W&M, Zvobgo has made valuable contributions to the government department’s course offerings at all levels, particularly by introducing courses in the area of transitional justice to meet high student demand. As founder and director of the International Justice Lab since 2019, she has provided student researchers with invaluable mentorship and instruction in social science research methods. In recognition of this commitment to substantive work with students, she received the American Political Science Association’s Craig L. Brians Award for Undergraduate Research and Mentorship.
G. Bruce Taggart Professor
Nathan Kidwell is the first of two recipients of this three-year Term Distinguished Associate Professorship, rewarding excellence in research, creative activity and work with students in the physical and mathematical sciences. As an associate professor of chemistry, Kidwell undertakes timely and important research on the application of laser-based methods and computational approaches to chemical systems in the atmosphere and energy production. He is the recipient of multiple substantial research grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund and the Jeffress Memorial Trust, among other organizations, along with the 2024 Flygare Award. His research has yielded numerous peer-reviewed articles, 13 of which feature W&M undergraduate co-authors. Kidwell’s dedication to the university is reflected in his mentorship of an impressive number of master’s, undergraduate honors and other students. He has a strong record of outreach and service to the wider community as well, including a partnership with the Governor’s School for Science to involve high school students in building an Internet-of-Things network of atmospheric monitoring devices.
Bin Ren, associate professor of computer science, has also been awarded a G. Bruce Taggart Professorship for 2025-2028. Working at the critical backbone of computational science, Bin seeks to optimize high-performance computer hardware and devise software to harness its full computational power, including cutting-edge applications of deep neural networks that have resulted in four patents and have attracted the interest of such companies as Google, Amazon and NVIDIA. He is the author of dozens of peer-reviewed papers in top journals, including over 40 co-authored with his graduate students. He has received several prestigious NSF grants, along with significant funding from the Jeffress Memorial Trust, Jefferson National Laboratory and Kwai Inc., for projects on which he has served as a principal investigator. Bin has advised ten doctoral students, four master’s projects and five undergraduate researchers and is currently mentoring a junior faculty member in computer science, demonstrating his commitment to the W&M community.
Weingartner Term Professor
Rani Mullen has been awarded this unique three-year professorship, established through a generous gift from Mary Anne Cody and the late Werner Weingartner in 2008, which supports faculty-student collaborative research on international policy issues. Currently an associate professor of government at W&M and editor of both the India Review and the Routledge Advances in South Asian Studies series, Mullen will spend her term as the Weingartner Professor working on her project “The Politics of Development: Ghana and Sri Lanka,” an attempt to understand the political and economic roots of recent unexpected downturns in the previously stable economies of the titular nations. Her goal is to help devise tools and policies to prevent similar crises in other developing countries. This timely work will allow Mullen to continue her impressive record of student involvement in research. As founding director of the Afghanistan Research Lab at W&M since 2022, she has guided undergraduates in engaging with experts, publishing their research and presenting their findings to scholarly audiences. Now, she will integrate undergraduate fellows into her project as field investigators for three summers in Washington, D.C., Accra, Ghana, and Colombo, Sri Lanka, and ultimately as co-authors on three papers stemming from this work. This hands-on experience outside the classroom will equip student fellows with crucial skills for pursuing related honors theses as well as graduate studies and careers in the field of development. In coordination with the Charles Center, the Weingartner Term Professorship will facilitate this collaboration by providing summer research stipends for each of up to four undergraduates. Furthermore, because the professorship provides an opportunity for the awardee to teach a seminar relating to international policy issues each academic year, Mullen will share her findings with a wider community of students through the COLL 300 course “The Comparative Politics of Development.”