ANN ARBOR—University of Michigan Regents, at their March 18-19 meeting, appointed four U-M faculty members to endowed and named professorships.

Huda Akil, the Gardner C. Quarton Professor of Neurosciences and professor of psychiatry, will also hold the Gardner C. Quarton Distinguished University Professorship of Neurosciences, effective Sept. 1.

Kyung J. Cho, professor of radiology, will be the William Martel Collegiate Profess of Radiology, effective April 1.

Edward E. Smith, the Arthur W. Melton Collegiate Professor of Psychology and professor of

psychology, will also hold the Arthur W. Melton Distinguished University Professorship of Psychology, effective Sept. 1.

Shirley Verrett, professor of music (voice), will be the James Earl Jones Distinguished University Professor of Music, effective Sept. 1.

“Prof. Akil is a scholar of exceptional breadth who is able to interact on a sophisticated level with scholars from many different disciplines,” U-M Provost Nancy Cantor said. “She is a truly creative scholar who operates continuously at the forefront of her discipline, always emphasizing the importance of contributions from interdisciplinary perspectives and always functioning as a bridge builder between scholars and between disciplines.

“She is internationally respected for her innovative thinking, her enormous productivity, and her professional leadership. Prof. Akil is also an exceptional educator and is much in demand to give keynote lectures at professional meetings. She is an outstanding mentor who attracts many graduate students and postdoctoral scholars and has excelled especially in training women neuroscientists, many of whom have subsequently been offered positions at the best universities.”

Prof. Cho has “an impressive record of accomplishments as a clinician, teacher, investigator and administrator. He has been a faculty member at the U-M since he began as an instructor in radiology in 1973,” Cantor noted. “In 1976, he was named director of the Division of Vascular and Interventional Radiology. He advanced through the academic ranks to achieve his present title of professor of radiology in 1982.

“Dr. Cho has been a funded investigator from a variety of sources ranging from the National Institutes of Health to vendor funded projects. He has an impressive publication record with 121 peer-reviewed manuscripts, 35 book chapters, and one ‘best selling’ angiography textbook. He has received the Outstanding Teacher Award from the radiology residents and is a Fellow of the American College of Radiology. Most importantly, Dr. Cho exhibits in his daily activities a devotion to the U-M.

Prof. Smith is “one of the most prominent, respected, and versatile cognitive psychologists in the country. For the past 20 years he has been a leader in the field, helping to redefine its mainstream time and time again. Prof. Smith’s earliest work focused on mental chronology, and he is widely regarded as one of the major contributors to this topic.

“His work then evolved to include human short-term memory and semantic memory, language understanding, and memory organization—ground-breaking research with discernible impacts on the fields of linguistics and artificial intelligence. His next area of interest centered on knowledge representation, work that has extended to questions about mental procedures such as induction, reasoning, and probabilistic judgment. Prof. Smith is also noted for his exceptional work with students. He has been the major adviser, mentor, and acknowledged major influence for many of the outstanding young cognitive psychologists who are already making their own impacts on the field.”

Prof. Verrett has been “a major star of the world’s leading opera houses and has enjoyed a professional singing career that not only reached the pinnacles of success in the opera world but lasted for a very long time. She has sung in opera and recitals, appeared as soloist with orchestras, and made many important opera recordings. She has sung to acclaim in most of the principal music capitals of the world.

“Prof. Verrett is widely respected as a natural and intelligent musician, a cultured and educated artist who is musically and poetically literate, creative, and well able to integrate her impressive talents into the larger musical and dramatic context of grand opera with subtlety and meaning. She has adapted to teaching at the U-M with the same degree of commitment and enthusiasm that characterized her singing career. She has rapidly achieved a reputation as a powerful teacher who is devoted to the progress of her students.”