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| September 14, 2000 | Contact: Margaret McCarthy (312) 996-827; mmm@uic.edu |
SANDER GILMAN JOINS UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO
Sander Gilman, from the University of Chicago, has joined the faculty of the University of Illinois at Chicago as a professor in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the College of Medicine. The appointment is subject to approval by the University of Illinois Board of Trustees.
Gilman, 56, is known internationally for his work in a wide range of disciplines including literature, medicine, philosophy, sociology, Jewish studies, German studies and film studies. He has written, coauthored and edited more than 50 books.
Gilman was recruited by Stanley Fish, dean of liberal arts and sciences at UIC.
"Sander Gilman is a phenomenon," said Fish. "He is an academic with extraordinarily well-developed business sense. He knows how to secure funding for intellectual projects and is in touch with major philanthropic foundations throughout the country. He is one of those rare persons who both generates ideas and immediately moves on to the nitty-gritty implementation of those ideas; a combination of visionary and 'can do.'"
Gilman will create and direct the UIC Humanities Laboratory for humanities-based, large-scale, collaborative research projects.
"Sander Gilman's career and his thinking on higher education reveal the increasing frailty of the vaunted distinction between the sciences and the humanities," said Gerald Graff, associate dean of curriculum and instruction in liberal arts and sciences. "His coming to UIC presents a great opportunity for this university to take the national lead in further bridging the science-humanities gap."
"Dr. Gilman brings a long and distinguished career in the history of psychiatry to UIC," said Gerald Moss, dean of the College of Medicine. "His appointment allows UIC to strengthen linkages between the humanities and medicine."
"I find the potential of helping shape scholarship in the humanities, natural sciences and social sciences, as well as medicine, on all levels at UIC an exciting proposition," said Gilman. "UIC will begin to take the lead in innovative scholarship across and within disciplines. The Humanities Lab will help foster existing projects and develop new projects in collaborative scholarship made available to every aspect of the new global community."
At the University of Chicago, Gilman holds the titles of distinguished service professor and Henry R. Luce Professor of the Liberal Arts in Human Biology. He is a professor of German, history of science, and psychiatry, as well as chair of the department of Germanic studies and acting chair of the committee on history of culture. He is a member of the committee on Jewish studies and the department of comparative literature. Gilman was a professor at Cornell University from 1965 to 1994.
"Sander Gilman is among the most prominent scholars in academe today," said Michael Lieb, professor of English, research professor of humanities and member of the Jewish studies program committee. "Addressing such wide-ranging topics as the nature of the Jew in contemporary culture, the significance of Nietzsche and Freud, the construction of 'the body' as a cultural symbol, the relationship between perception and stereotype in society, his writings span a multitude of disciplines and interests. More than that, his is a voice for humaneness in the humanities and social sciences."
Gilman earned a doctoral degree in German from Tulane University in 1968, following graduate studies as an NDEA fellow in German and English (1963 to 1965) and a bachelor's degree in German (1963). Gilman also studied in Munich and Berlin at the graduate level from 1965 to 1966.
"By hiring Sander Gilman, UIC was able to add a most illustrious scholar to its faculty," said Helga Kraft, professor and head of the German department. "His international renown for innovative and cutting-edge scholarship, prolific publications in cultural studies, organizational talent, as well as his worldwide connections and reputation, will no doubt enhance UIC's image as a premier research institution."
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