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Swint, Vernon Named to Endowed Positions
at
School of Public Health
Two new holders of endowed faculty positions at The University of Texas School of Public Health (SPH) received commemorative medallions Oct. 18 in an investiture ceremony that was part of the Faculty Honors Convocation.
In the investiture ceremony for faculty members appointed to endowed positions are,
from left, Scott Fleming and George
Fleming, representing the Fleming Foundation;
UT Health Science Center President James T. Willerson, M.D.; the
George McMillan
Fleming Professor J. Michael Swint, Ph.D.; and UT School of Public Health Dean
Guy
S. Parcel, Ph.D.
Photos by John Everett
Recognized were J. Michael Swint, Ph.D., who was named holder of the George McMillan Fleming Professorship, and Sally W. Vernon, Ph.D., who was appointed to the Blair Justice, Ph.D., Professorship in Mind-Body Medicine and Public Health.
“As dean, I am pleased that these two outstanding faculty members have been awarded professorships and I congratulate them,” said SPH Dean Guy S. Parcel, Ph.D.
Swint, who is director of the SPH Division of Management, Policy and Community Health, said the endowment will help promote and advance his work.
“In response to increasing demand, the division is strengthening the master’s and doctoral degree programs that emphasize health care management. This endowment brings increased recognition to the importance of this area, as well as providing financial resources in support of our efforts,” Swint said.
“Strengthening our program will appeal to health care professionals, executives and policymakers who wish to fill in the gaps in their prior education in health care management and policy,” Swint added.
Swint’s endowed position was established in 2004 in the name of the late George McMillan Fleming, Ph.D., who was a hospital administrator at several area facilities, including Methodist Hospital, and served as president of the Texas Hospital Association.
“The foundation wanted to honor a longtime hospital administrator, George McMillan Fleming, by establishing an endowment in his name,” said George M. Fleming, foundation trustee and George McMillan Fleming’s son. “We’re very pleased that someone as deserving as Dr. Swint has been chosen to hold the endowed position that bears my father’s name.”
Blair Justice, Ph.D., left, professor emeritus at the School of Public Health,
and Dean Guy S. Parcel, Ph.D., present a medallion signifying the
investiture of Sally W. Vernon, Ph.D., as the Blair Justice, Ph.D., Professor
in Mind-Body Medicine and Public Health.
For Vernon, being named to the Blair Justice, Ph.D., Professorship in Mind-Body Medicine and Public Health “has special meaning to me because Blair gave me my first job in public health as a research assistant on a project investigating the causes of interpersonal violence,” said Vernon, who is director of the Division of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences. “That experience led to my interest in pursuing a research career in public health.”
Justice, SPH professor emeritus of psychology, remembers hiring Vernon as a particularly bright student. Over the years, he said, “Sally has been a friend to me and my wife, Rita. We could think of no one better to hold the endowed professorship.”
Rita Justice, Ph.D., a psychologist in private practice, agreed that Vernon’s being named to the professorship was “a closing of a circle, something every professor is proud to see, that his student moves into maturity and a place of prominence in the field.
“We chose to endow the professorship to encourage a continuation of the work of mind-body medicine in public health, the area of specialty for Blair in his career,” Rita Justice said.
Vernon, who focuses her research on the impact of cognitive and psychological factors on health behaviors, such as cancer screening, thanked the Justices for their generosity. “This endowment highlights the need to seek solutions through a better understanding of the multiple and interrelated influences on health and disease,” she said.
According to James T. Willerson, M.D., president of the UT Health Science Center at Houston, endowments do more than bestow accolades on deserving faculty and help fund research projects.
“Thanks to our endowed faculty appointments, we are able to attract and retain the finest scientists from around the world to teach at our schools and further our research efforts. Without the competitive edge endowments offer, we might lose these bright leaders to other universities,” Willerson said. “We appreciate generous donors, such as Blair and Rita Justice and the Fleming Foundation, for recognizing the long-term benefits of establishing an endowed position.”
Parcel added, “Endowed professorships confirm the school’s commitment to retain professors of proven brilliance who are able to not only advance our research efforts, but who encourage and inspire the next generation of scientists under their tutelage.”
By Wendy K. Mohon, Institutional Advancement