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Homer A. Neal to give inaugural lecture in James P. Holland Memorial Lecture Series
Oct. 10, 2000
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Professor Homer A. Neal, interim president emeritus and vice president emeritus for research at the University of Michigan, will present the inaugural lecture in the James P. Holland Memorial Lecture Series at Indiana University.
Neal will speak on "Science in the New Millennium" on Monday (Oct. 16) at 4 p.m. in Whittenberger Auditorium in the Indiana Memorial Union on the Bloomington campus. The event is free and open to the public.
The lecture also will be taped for later rebroadcast on the Web. Users will need RealPlayer and can access the lecture at http://broadcast.iu.edu beginning Oct. 23.
The Holland Lecture Series was designed to allow IU to recognize the contributions of Holland, a professor of biology and an exemplary scholar who possessed a passion for teaching and learning, said Charlie Nelms, IU vice president for student development and diversity.
"Jim succeeded as a teacher because he focused on students, not just the content of his discipline," Nelms said. "With his commitment to excellence and equity, Jim was a mentor for students from all walks of life long before the word mentoring was a part of the popular vocabulary of academia."
Holland died of cancer on March 24, 1998. The lecture series is being presented in his memory by the Office of the Vice President for Student Development and Diversity, the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Multicultural Affairs, and the Department of Biology.
"There are wonderful stories told by his students of his impact on their lives, even one-on-one contacts in which he created for them a defining moment in their lives," said Kenneth Gros Louis, IU vice president for academic affairs and chancellor of the Bloomington campus. "Like all great teachers, Jim's influence will be felt by the students of his students and their students. The Jim Holland Lecture ensures that the campus community will remember him in perpetuity as well."
The Department of Biology at IU Bloomington also has established a graduate fellowship in Holland's honor, to support the training of a first-year doctoral student from groups under-represented in life sciences. The fellowship will provide stipend, tuition and health insurance during the first year of graduate training.
The scientific research area of the first Holland lecturer, Neal, is experimental high-energy physics, and he currently conducts his research at CERN, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics.
Neal also serves as the Samuel A. Goudsmit professor of physics and director of the UM-ATLAS Collaboratory Project at Michigan. From 1987 to 1993, he chaired UM's Physics Department. He has received numerous awards including a Sloan Foundation fellowship, a John Simon Guggenheim Foundation fellowship and the IU Distinguished Alumni Service Award.
Neal earned his bachelor's degree in physics with honors in 1961 from IU, and went on to earn a master's degree and doctorate in physics from the University of Michigan.
Holland first came to IU to study zoology in the Department of Biology. He earned two degrees in endocrinology: a master's degree in 1958 and a doctorate in 1961. In 1967, he returned to IU as an associate professor of biology. Over the next 30 years his commitment to the university was exceptional, ranging from recruiting and mentoring students to serving as associate dean and interim dean of the Graduate School.
As a researcher, he studied reproductive endocrinology and examined the mechanism by which thyroid hormones influence reproductive physiology in women. He was awarded the Indiana University's Distinguished Service Award in 1994. In 1997, Gros Louis created the Chancellor's Medallion and named Holland as its first recipient.
"Jim received nearly every teaching and service award available in the university," Gros Louis said. "This is why at a dinner in his honor several years ago, I awarded him the first Chancellor's Medallion, a new award to recognize transcendent accomplishments on campus. The medal had not been struck at that time, and it will be my pleasure to present it to his wife, Connie, in his memory at the lecture."
More than 11,000 students took Holland's classes and helped select him for the many teaching awards he received. He also organized and participated in many summer enrichment programs for high school students and summer research programs for undergraduate students.
(George Vlahakis, 812-855-0846, gvlahaki@indiana.edu)