Six Knox College Faculty Members Named to Endowed Professorships

Six Knox College faculty members have been appointed to endowed chairs and endowed professorships. 

Endowed professorships serve as a way to honor and reward faculty for their accomplishments. Appointments are the highest honor Knox College can bestow on a faculty member and continue the College’s commitment to excellence in teaching and research. Knox College now boasts 22 endowed professorships and chairs.

“Knox has an exceptional faculty body and these six faculty members are a resounding testament to what our faculty can and do accomplish,” Provost and Dean of the Faculty Melissa Glenn said. “All six are impressive scholars and educators and I am excited to see what else they will achieve in the coming years.”

This year’s honorees include:

Craig Choma ’93, Chancie Ferris Booth Distinguished Service Professor in Theatre; Gregory Gilbert, George Appleton Lawerence Distinguished Service Professor in Art History; Thomas R. Moses, Cornelia H. Dudley Professor in Physics; Brandon E. Polite ’03, R. Lance Factor Endowed Chair in Philosophy; Robin Ragan, Szold Distinguished Service Professor in Modern Languages; and Michael A. Schneider, Burkhardt Distinguished Chair in History.

Read more about this year’s appointees:

Craig Choma ’93, Chancie Ferris Booth Distinguished Service Professor in Theatre 

Craig Choma joined Knox College’s faculty in 1996 after earning a B.A. in theatre and philosophy from Knox in 1993 and an M.F.A. in scenic and lighting design from Carnegie Mellon in 1996. His teaching interests include design and technology for stage and screen, scenic design, lighting design, and scenic art. In addition to designing productions at Knox College, Choma has also worked in New Orleans, Madison, Milwaukee, Chicago, and internationally in France on multiple occasions.

Among his professional accomplishments, Choma has presented at national conferences, including "Dance & Design: Fostering Collaboration through Curriculum" at the National Dance Education Organization Conference and "Collage, Metaphor & Fusion: Collaborating Across the Disciplines" at the International Conference on the Arts & Humanities.

Chancie Ferris Booth (1875–1957) was a philanthropist and a notable figure. The Booth Ferris Foundation and the Chancie Ferris Booth Distinguished Professorship at Knox College are named in her honor.

Gregory Gilbert, George Appleton Lawrence Distinguished Service Professor in Art History

Gregory Gilbert joined Knox College’s faculty in 1995 after earning a B.F.A. in art history from the University of Kansas in 1981, a Museum Studies Certificate in 1983, and an M.A. in art history in 1984 from Rutgers University. He completed his Ph.D. in art history at Rutgers in 1998. His teaching interests include curatorial studies; contemporary American and European art; 12th-century art and architecture; American art, architecture, and culture; Native arts of the Americas; the interpretation of works of art, visual culture theory; Andy Warhol and the visual culture of the 1960s, and collage. His current research explores the relationship between Abstract Expressionist art and the mass visual culture of World War II, as well as the connections between Pragmatist philosophy, American poetry, and the early Abstract Expressionist art of Robert Motherwell.

In addition to his advanced degrees in art history, Gilbert has worked as a museum curator and delivered presentations and currently serves as the vice president on the board of directors of the College Art Association. He also directs the art museum studies minor program, which includes courses in museum issues and practices and trains students in the curating of exhibitions.

The Lawrence Professorship was established in 1977 to honor George Appleton Lawrence, who graduated from Knox in 1875 and enjoyed a long career as a lawyer, bank president, and landowner. He served as a member of the Knox Board of Trustees from 1891 until his death in 1934.

Thomas R. Moses, Cornelia H. Dudley Professor in Physics 

Thomas R. Moses joined the faculty at Knox College in 1992. He received his B.S. in physics and mathematics from Stanford, graduating Phi Beta Kappa in 1987. He earned his M.A. in physics from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1990, and his Ph.D. in physics from the same institution in 1993. His teaching interests include physics, analytical mechanics, electricity and magnetism, quantum mechanics, thermodynamics, and statistical mechanics.

He is the recipient of a National Science Foundation-Solid State Chemistry grant, “Surface Ordering and Anchoring Energy in Nematic Liquid Crystals," and has authored or co-authored several publications appearing in the American Journal of Physics and Physics Teacher, among others. 

The Cornelia H. Dudley Professorship was established at Knox College by the Dudley family in honor of their daughter, Cornelia H. Dudley. The professorship was created to honor Cornelia and to contribute to the College’s permanent endowment.

Brandon E. Polite ’03, R. Lance Factor Endowed Chair in Philosophy 

Brandon E. Polite joined the faculty at Knox College in 2007. He earned his B.A. in philosophy from Knox College in 2003. He earned his M.A. in philosophy from the University of Illinois in 2005 and his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Illinois in 2010. His teaching interests include aesthetics, philosophy of art, philosophy of music, Greek philosophy, and symbolic logic.

Polite’s research has been widely published in academic journals, and he is the editor of Taylor Swift and Her Philosophy of Re-recording: The Art of Taylor's Versions. He is also the host of the YouTube series, Polite Conversations: Philosophers Discussing Art, where he talks to other philosophers about their work in aesthetics and the philosophy of art, diving into their views in a fun and engaging way. He currently serves as a Trustee of the American Society for Aesthetics.

The R. Lance Factor Chair in Philosophy, the first endowed faculty chair in College history to recognize the accomplishments of a living professor, was established in 2006 through a gift from an anonymous donor.

Robin Ragan, Szold Distinguished Service Professor in Modern Languages 

Robin Ragan joined the faculty at Knox College in 2000. She earned her B.A. from the University of Illinois in 1993. She earned her M.A. from the University of Illinois in 1995 and her Ph.D. from the University of Illinois in 2001 in Hispanic and Latin American languages, literatures, and linguistics. Her teaching interests are Spanish translation and interpreting, Spanish literature (19th and 20th centuries), representations of women, medical issues in literature, Spanish youth movements, and digital storytelling.

Most recently, she has spearheaded the College's efforts to introduce Spanish translation and interpretation into the curriculum, working with students on numerous projects in the United States, including Galesburg and the southern border, and Mexico. She has received over a dozen honors and grants during her time at Knox College, including the Phillip Green Wright Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2024 and 2006. 

The Szold Distinguished Service Professorship was established in honor of Harold J. Szold, Class of 1915, and Robert Szold, Class of 1909. After graduating from Knox and earning a degree from the Harvard School of Business, Harold Szold joined Lehman Brothers investment banking firm in 1924, eventually becoming a partner. He was a member of the Knox College Board of Trustees from 1954 to 1968. Robert Szold received a B.S. and M.S. from Knox College in 1909, graduating Phi Beta Kappa, and also attended Harvard Law School. He founded his own law firm and was chairman of the board of the Palestine Economic Corporation and the Union Bank of Israel.

Michael A. Schneider, Burkhardt Distinguished Chair in History

Michael A. Schneider joined Knox College’s faculty in 1992 after earning his B.S. in chemistry from Michigan State University in 1984, M.A. in Far East history from the University of Chicago in 1985, and Ph.D. in modern Japanese and international history from the University of Chicago in 1996. His teaching interests include East Asian civilization, modern China, modern Japan, social life of food, culture, and diplomacy in modern East Asia, approaches to international history, and nationalisms.

Schneider has been featured in several publications and delivered countless presentations during his time at Knox College. He has also earned several honors and grants for his work while at Knox. Schneider also held many administrative positions at Knox College, serving as associate dean for four years, as director of the Eleanor Stellyes Center for Global Studies for eight years, interim dean of the College from 2017-18, and as provost and dean of the College from 2019-2025.

The chair was established by Knox alumni Dr. Richard W. Burkhardt and Dorothy Johnson Burkhardt, both graduates from the Class of 1939.

Published on November 13, 2025

- Scott Holland, Knox College Office of Communications