The State University of New York Board of Trustees recently approved the appointments of 29 faculty to the Distinguished Faculty Rank (DFR), including Dr. Neil Feit of the Department of Philosophy at the State University of New York at Fredonia, who has been named a Distinguished Teaching Professor.
All distinguished faculty in active service within SUNY are also members of the SUNY Distinguished Academy.
SUNY Board Chairman H. Carl McCall said, “The SUNY distinguished professor rankings are the highest honors our board of trustees has the opportunity to convey to faculty, making them a tremendous point of pride for us all. These individuals are leaders and innovators in their field, serving as excellent mentors for our students while advancing groundbreaking research and discovery in New York and around the globe. Congratulations to all of the faculty receiving this distinction.”
“The SUNY distinguished faculty are truly the best of the best,” said SUNY Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher. “Through innovative instruction, unique research opportunities, and engaging applied learning opportunities, they deliver a top quality higher education for our students that is second to none. Many thanks and congratulations to this most recent class of distinguished faculty.” Fredonia President Virginia Horvath added, "I congratulate Professor Feit on his achievement of this distinguished rank."
The Distinguished Teaching Professorship recognizes and honors mastery of teaching. Candidates must have demonstrated consistently superior mastery of teaching, outstanding service to students, and commitment to their ongoing intellectual growth, scholarship and professional growth, and adherence to rigorous academic standards and requirements. Further, a faculty member must have attained and held the rank of full professor for five years, have completed at least three years of full-time teaching on the nominating campus, 10 years of full-time teaching in the SUNY system, and must have regularly carried a full-time teaching load as defined by the campus.
Dr. Feit has been a member of the Department of Philosophy faculty since 1999 and was promoted to the rank of Full Professor in 2009. His expertise in the philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, and ethics animates his teaching and scholarship. Dr. Feit earns extremely positive evaluations from his students. Many of the students with whom he has worked closely have achieved great success in business, law and philosophy after graduation. He is renowned for his unique, effective style of teaching, which combines active lecture-discussion, slide presentations, frequent quizzes, online videos, and a philosophical method of strongly defending conflicting positions in turn. In addition, Dr. Feit is known to be generous with his time outside the classroom, overseeing several student clubs and working independently with students who seek his guidance. In nomination materials, it was noted that he has high expectations of students and his rigorous standards bring out their best. In addition, his professional development, as judged by scholarly activity, has been ongoing and robust: he has published two books and 20 articles in the most prestigious forums in philosophy, including the Oxford University Press. His recent work on the concept of harm has resulted in two publications in leading journals in the past two years, and invitations to participate in international conferences in Syracuse later this month, and in Uppsala, Sweden, this August. In recognition of his accomplishments, Dr. Feit has earned the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2005, the William T. and Charlotte N. Hagan Young Scholar/Artist Award in 2009, and was selected to present the campus’ Kasling Lecture, which recognizes excellence in research and scholarship, in 2011.
Since the program's inception in 1963, SUNY has appointed 1,062 faculty to the distinguished ranks, as follows, including these most recent appointments: 371 Distinguished Professorships; 310 Distinguished Service Professorships; 376 Distinguished Teaching Professorships; and five Distinguished Librarian Professorships. More information about SUNY’s faculty award program is available online.
