:COLUMBUS - Two Ohio State University faculty members, a molecular physicist and a medieval historian, have received the university's highest faculty honor: the Distinguished University Professorship. The 2000 honorees are Frank C. De Lucia of WORTHINGTON, professor of physics, and Joseph H. Lynch of CLINTONVILLE, professor of history.

At the university's Board of Trustees meeting Friday (6/2), Executive Vice President and Provost Edward J. Ray granted each recipient the title and an annual budget of $10,000 for three years to support academic work.

"Professors De Lucia and Lynch are respected nationally and internationally for their important contributions in their respective fields," Ray said. "Their advances in research, as well as their commitment to teaching and service, have played critical roles in their departments' success and in providing Ohio State students with access to some of the most exceptional scholarship in the world."

Distinguished University Professors continue their regular program of teaching; research, scholarly or creative work; and service. They are nominated by their colleagues both at Ohio State and internationally. Evaluators from outside the university are invited to assess the quality and significance of each nominee's academic accomplishments. This year, the Distinguished University Professor honorees represent two of Ohio State's eight Selective Investment departments, units that have received substantial financial support from the university in recognition of their national excellence.

Frank C. De Lucia

De Lucia came to Ohio State from Duke University in 1990, bringing his laboratory and students and postdoctoral researchers with him. He chaired the Department of Physics at Ohio State from the time of his arrival until 1998. During his tenure as chair, the department earned several university honors and a new building for physics was secured. De Lucia, according to a colleague, "set the tone and established an atmosphere in which the department could focus on and excel in its instructional mission." In addition, during those years, the Department of Physics made the largest gain in National Research Council ranking of any physics department in the country, as well as the largest gain of any department at Ohio State.

De Lucia is considered by peers to be a world-class scientist, a revered scholar, and a kind and generous colleague. Conducting research that lies at the intersection of physics, chemistry, astronomy and electrical engineering, De Lucia is credited with developing new methods to study the submillimeter wave electromagnetic spectrum and making important advances in instrumentation. His research interests also include the spectroscopy of small, fundamental molecules, collisional processes and mechanisms, the excitation and study of excited states, and molecules of atmospheric and astronomic importance.

At Ohio State, De Lucia was an organizer and founder of the newly formed Spectroscopy Institute, which resulted from a successful Academic Enrichment proposal prepared by the chemical physics program, of which De Lucia is a member. He was chair when the Department of Physics received Selective Investment funding and had just stepped down as chair when physics received its Departmental Teaching Excellence Award. De Lucia also is one of 11 Ohio State physicists to have received the Distinguished Scholar Award.

Among his many other awards, De Lucia is a recipient of the Max Planck Research Prize and in 1992 was named a fellow of the American Physical Society. He held several teaching appointments and served as chair of the Department of Physics at Duke University between 1969 and 1988, and has been director of the Microwave Laboratory - located at Ohio State and Duke - since 1979. De Lucia earned his bachelor's degree from Iowa Wesleyan College and his Ph.D. from Duke.

Joseph H. Lynch

Lynch is a highly decorated professor, having received both the Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching and the Distinguished Scholar Award from Ohio State, as well as earning several national fellowships - most recently from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. He was invited to become a fellow at the National Humanities Center in 1999-2000, and has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Council of Learned Societies.

Lynch studies medieval social and religious history. An author of four influential books and numerous articles, he is lauded by his peers as "easily one of the finest historians of the church and religious life now at work in the general field of early medieval Europe," "the pre-eminent scholar working in North America" among medieval historians, "a catalyst in the community of medievalists" and as a scholar who "stands in the first rank of medievalists."

Currently the holder of the Joe R. Engle Designated Chair in the History of Christianity, Lynch is credited by a Purdue colleague as having the rare scholarly experience of defining a field. His exploration of godparentage and kinship revealed that "what the modern world tends to regard as a benign and somewhat flaccid relationship was in the Middle Ages invested with powerful social connotations and moral taboos," the historian wrote. Lynch's next venture, a plan to examine the medieval practice of becoming a monk or a nun on one's deathbed to resolve moral tension over one's lifestyle, similarly impresses his peers. His third book, The Medieval Church: A Brief History, is considered by colleagues to be a valuable comprehensive synthesis of the most important institution in medieval Europe.

Lynch was director of the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies from 1978 to 1983 and chair of the Department of History from 1989 to 1993. "It is no accident that both of these units now rank among the leading programs in the nation in their respective areas. … Professor Lynch provided inspired leadership and steady guidance at crucial periods as both entities were building towards excellence," a colleague wrote.

An Ohio State faculty member since 1971, Lynch earned his bachelor's degree from Boston College and his master's degree and doctorate from Harvard University.

###

(LO)