The University of Texas at Dallas honored its newest group of endowed chairs and professors – including three outstanding faculty members of The Harry W. Bass Jr. School of Arts, Humanities, and Technology – during its 2024 Investiture Ceremony at the Edith O’Donnell Arts and Technology Building Lecture Hall on April 18.
The ceremony celebrated Dr. Hanno Berger, Dr. Erika Doss and Dr. Charissa N. Terranova; three Bass School faculty members among the eight investees from four UT Dallas schools.
Endowed chairs and professorships are the highest academic award the University can bestow on a faculty member. The endowments, funded through philanthropic donations, fund initiatives that advance research and instructional programs.
The ceremony also recognizes donors whose support made it possible to establish the endowed chairs and professorships. UT Dallas has more than 175 chairs and professorships, with several established by or honoring the University’s founders and early leaders.
“Thanks to the generosity of our donors, UT Dallas has been able to attract, support, and retain world-class faculty who are conducting transformative research and providing exceptional education and mentorship to our students,” said Dr. Inga H. Musselman, provost, vice president for academic affairs and the Cecil H. Green Distinguished Chair of Academic Leadership. “We are grateful for their faith in our university and their acknowledgment of academic excellence, and we applaud the accomplishments of our honored faculty members.”
Meet the Bass School’s investees
Dr. Erika Doss, Edith O’Donnell Distinguished Chair
Dr. Erika Doss is a leading authority on American art, with a deep understanding of 20th and 21st-century movements.
In Fall 2023, she joined the Bass School faculty and The Edith O’Donnell Institute of Art History as a distinguished chair.
Dr. Doss’s courses explore the powerful influence of art and artists on society.
Her unique expertise in the complexities of visual and material cultures further strengthens UT Dallas’s position as a hub for artistic knowledge and excellence.
Dr. Doss’s research areas include the making and meaning of American modernism, the art of the New Deal, monuments and memory, public art, and women artists of the American West.
She has written several books on such diverse topics as American artists and religion, Elvis Presley’s culture, public art and cultural democracy, and the politics of modernism. She has also written hundreds of book chapters, scholarly articles, and essays.
Before joining The Bass School, she was a professor of American studies at the University of Notre Dame for 16 years. She holds a doctoral degree from The University of Minnesota.
Dr. Hanno Berger, Fellow, Miriam Lewis Barnett Chair
Dr. Hanno Berger joined the UT Dallas faculty and The Ackerman Center for Holocaust Studies in the Fall of 2023
He is an assistant professor at The Bass School and a fellow of The Miriam Lewis Barnett Chair, established for studies related to the Holocaust, genocide, and human rights.
A film scholar, Dr. Berger explores how themes of the Holocaust, totalitarianism, and political evils resonate across the arts. At UT Dallas, he teaches courses that delve into the evolution of cinema, from its historical roots to its enduring role as a social and artistic force.
Before joining The Bass School, Dr. Berger held postdoctoral research assistant positions at Vanderbilt University and Freie Universität Berlin, where he earned his doctorate, master’s, and bachelor’s degrees in film studies.
A dedicated humanities scholar and Ackerman Center fellow, Dr. Berger is passionate about furthering Holocaust studies and ensuring its memory lives on for future generations.
Dr. Charissa N. Terranova, Margaret M. McDermott Distinguished Chair of Art and Aesthetic Studies
Dr. Charissa Terranova, an environmental humanist and art and architectural history scholar, has served the UT Dallas faculty since 2007.
Throughout the last decade, Dr. Terranova’s research has been at the intersection of art, humanities, and science. She explores the fascinating relationship between biology, culture, and nature’s role in past and present art, architecture, and design.
At UT Dallas, Dr. Terranova teaches courses on modern and contemporary art, architectural history and theory, the history of biology in art and architecture, and media and new media art and theory.
In addition to her role as a Bass School professor, Dr. Terranova is a faculty member of The Edith O’Donnell Institute of Art History. She holds the Margaret M. McDermott Distinguished Chair in Art and Aesthetic Studies, an endowment destined to support scholarly, educational, and research activities in art and aesthetic studies.
Dr. Terranova has written five books about the connection between art and science. She holds an MA and PhD in architectural history and theory from Harvard University and an MA in art history from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
The information in this publication draws heavily from the April 12 article ‘Investiture Ceremony To Celebrate Distinguished Professors, Donors’ by Kim Horner.