Four Indiana University Bloomington faculty members have been named 2023 Provost Professors. Winners of the Tracy M. Sonneborn Award, the Mary Burgan Distinguished Service Award and the M.A. Venkataramanan “Venkat” Distinguished Service Award have also been announced.

Provost Professors are Tessa Bent, in the College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences; Richard Hardy, in the College’s Department of Biology; Debra Herbenick, in the School of Public Health-Bloomington’s Department of Applied Health Science; and Scott Shackelford in the Kelley School of Business.

Herbenick is also winner of the 2023 Tracy M. Sonneborn Award. She will deliver the annual Sonneborn Lecture at a time and location to be announced later.

Jon Kay, in the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology, has been awarded the 2023 Mary Burgan Distinguished Service Award.

Kirsten Grønbjerg, Distinguished Professor in the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, has been awarded the 2023 M.A. Venkataramanan “Venkat” Distinguished Service Award.

“These scholars have brought extraordinary prestige to Indiana University through their research and service and enriched the education of their students through their teaching and mentorship,” Acting Vice Provost for Faculty and Academic Affairs Eliza Pavalko said. “It is a great pleasure to see each of them recognized with the honors which they so richly deserve.”

The Sonneborn award and lecture are named for the late IU biologist Tracy M. Sonneborn, a renowned geneticist who was also highly regarded for his teaching. The Provost Professor position, originally called Chancellor’s Professor, was created in 1995 to honor those who have achieved local, national and international distinction in both teaching and research/creative activity. The Mary Burgan Distinguished Service Award, first presented in 1986, recognizes faculty who exhibit distinguished service to the university, a profession, a discipline or the public. The new M.A. Venkataramanan “Venkat” Distinguished Service Award honors a faculty member or librarian whose service has had a long-term, significant impact on the Bloomington campus.

Recipients of all these awards are chosen by a faculty committee sponsored by the Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty and Academic Affairs. All honorees will be celebrated at a reception in the coming academic year.

Read about the recipients in IU Bloomington Today