It is with great pleasure that I announce the inaugural recipients of the Cynthia Behrman Dinners Celebrating Extraordinary Scholarly and Professional Achievement. They are:
| Shelley W. Chan, Ph.D. |
| Kristin Cline, Ph.D. |
| Lauren Shapiro Crane, Ph.D. |
Professor Chan and Professor Cline are being celebrating for a long history of accomplishment in their respective fields, and Professor Crane for her work on a Global Religion Research Initiative International Collaboration grant, funded by the Templeton Religion Trust and administered by the University of Notre Dame.
Each will be recognized with an informal dinner. That dinner will include up to twelve attendees and will be organized by the recipient’s department in coordination with the Director of Faculty Development and with the financial support of the Faculty Development Board. The Director of Faculty Development will also publicize their accomplishments on the Teaching and Professional Development webpage and will work with University Communications to provide further publicity. The Faculty Development Board, chaired by Professor Courey, will select at least two more recipients next semester. Nominations are made by department chairs.
These dinners are intended as opportunity to share research and to celebrate accomplishment in a vibrant, social setting. They are named in honor of Emerita Professor of History, Cynthia Behrman, one of the first female professors at Wittenberg.
Professor Behrman exemplified what these dinners are intended to promote. She would often say to her students “that the meaning of life was to work well and to love well.” For many of her students, she became the very model of living and working well. One student remembers, “She was such a trailblazer as a woman in a department of men, and who at the same time had such a vibrant social life, with family and friends, alongside her professional work and achievements.”
Colleagues felt the same, especially those who garnered a coveted invitation to dinner. Emerita Professor of English Mimi Dixon remembers fondly, “All the beautiful meals, the long conversations in that dining room surrounded by reference books—for checking our facts—and the wine bottles up on the shelf above the books. … The rich smells of cooking, Cynthia’s warm smile as she strides to the door to greet us.”
In honor of Professor Behrman’s accomplishments as a teacher, scholar, and exemplar of living well, the Behrman Dinners celebrate Extraordinary Scholarly and Professional Achievement through an evening of long conversations over dinner.
Please join me in congratulating our inaugural recipients. This recognition is much deserved!