INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis Chancellor Charles R. Bantz recently bestowed the distinguished appointment of Chancellor’s Professor to three outstanding faculty: Dr. Asok Antony, professor of medicine, IU School of Medicine; Jonathan Eller, professor of English, IU School of Liberal Arts; and Marjorie Lyles, professor of international strategic management, IU Kelley School of Business.
The Chancellor’s Professor is the most notable appointment a faculty member can attain at IUPUI. It recognizes senior faculty members who display a record of extensive accomplishment and leadership in teaching, research and campus/professional service.
“The Chancellor’s Professors are faculty members who have distinguished themselves as researchers and educators for 10 or more years,” Bantz said. “In making this appointment, I acknowledge their contributions to their respective fields, the campus and the university as well as my intention to seek their wisdom and counsel on matters important to the future of IUPUI.”
Each of the 2013 Chancellor’s Professors has contributed in concrete, demonstrable ways to the development of IUPUI as an academic community of exceptional quality and integrity, and to their disciplines through the creation and application of knowledge.
Dr. Asok Antony
Antony is a recognized leader in folic acid, folate physiology and folate malnutrition research. The studies and knowledge created by Antony have enhanced the understanding of folate handling worldwide. He has been asked to contribute to many reviews, editorials and book chapters, with the latter including “Cecil Medicine” by Lee Goldman and “Hematology” by Ronald Hoffman, two heavily used and respected medical textbooks. His high-quality research contributions were recognized by his election into the American Society for Clinical Investigation.
Additionally, Antony led research which found that the incidence of neural tube defects in India was among the highest in the world. Resulting from his findings, and subsequent involvement of World Health Organization and UNICEF nutritionists, the Indian prime minister listed folate supplementation as a priority item on the Prime Minister’s National Council on India’s Nutritional Challenges.
Antony teaches hematology at the IU School of Medicine; the university has recognized his teaching excellence with a Trustees Teaching Award. He has served the school in many ways but most visibly as chair of promotion and tenure committees, including the Department of Medicine, School of Medicine and IUPUI levels.
Jonathan Eller
Eller is the world’s leading scholar on Ray Bradbury and a preeminent editor of modern literature. His literary scholarship is known worldwide. He has contributed to all of the editions within the Institute for American Thought, which is home to the production of critical and scholarly editions of the papers and writings of eminent American authors and philosophers including Frederick Douglass, George Santayana, Charles Sanders Peirce, Josiah Royce and Ray Bradbury. Eller has provided textual editing expertise across the papers and writings, in addition to serving as director of the Center for Ray Bradbury Studies.
On Bradbury alone, Eller has authored or co-authored three books and more than 20 articles, book chapters and other entries, and has edited or co-edited eight other publications. “Ray Bradbury: the Life of Fiction,” co-authored by Eller, is acknowledged as the definitive analysis that drew scholarly attention to this important and influential writer.
The Institute for American Thought is also home to two academic programs — American Studies and Professional Editing — that owe a great deal to Eller’s developmental efforts. His service to American Studies includes a term as director and lead advisor and the establishment of an annual semester-long exchange program in the United Kingdom. He developed the institute’s interdisciplinary graduate program in Professional Editing and served as founding director.
Although it is a large and prestigious center, the institute is only one part of IUPUI to which Eller has contributed his scholarly and administrative leadership. He has served on numerous departmental, school, campus and university committees, task forces, councils and review committees. Eller has received many awards including IUPUI’s prestigious Glenn W. Irwin Jr., M.D., Experience Excellence Recognition Award.
Marjorie Lyles
Lyles is world renowned for her influential scholarly research in international business studies, including the performance of foreign direct investment projects, and the utilization of joint ventures as a form of business development and entrepreneurship in transitional and evolving economies. She has published 63 articles in leading management journals and was honored for the most influential research published in the Journal of International Business Studies.
As a part of her service to the university, Lyles was the founding director of the Indiana University Center on Southeast Asia and has been an important contributor to the relationship the Kelley School of Business is fostering with the School of Business at Sun Yat-sen University. In addition, she has been nominated as a Chiang Jiang Scholar sponsored by Sun Yat-sen, which is the highest award the Chinese Ministry gives to scholars.
At the campus level, Lyles serves as chair of the International Affairs Committee and the associate director of international development for the IU Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at IUPUI. She has won a number of awards for her teaching contributions, including IU’s prestigious John Ryan Award.