President Pat White and Dean of the College Gary A. Phillips have named Dr. Scott Feller the Lloyd B. Howell Chair in Chemistry at Wabash College. Professor Feller is the third member of the faculty to hold the prestigious chair and follows professors Roy Miller (1987-98) and Richard Dallinger (1999-2011).
In making the announcement, Dean Phillips referred to Dr. Feller as “exemplary by every measure” and an “accomplished teacher.”
Feller joined the Wabash faculty in 1998 and was named full professor in 2009, the same year he received the McLain-McTurnan-Arnold Excellence in Teaching Award. Feller is a graduate of Willamette University and earned his Ph.D. from the University of California-Davis. He served the College as chair of the Division of Sciences and Mathematics.
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“Scott is an accomplished teacher, a recognized national scholar, the recipient of numerous major National Science Foundation awards, a prolific researcher and publisher, and a leader of Division One and the faculty as a whole,” said Dean Phillips. “His demonstrated teaching, research, and leadership interests make him a fitting holder of the Howell Chair.”
The Lloyd B. Howell Chair in Chemistry was established in 1987 through the generosity of alumni and friends of beloved organic chemistry professor Lloyd “Doc” Howell, with the leadership of Tom Mastin ’38 and the support of Bill Haines ’40 and Dick Schreiber ’31. The renewable five-year appointment includes funds for research, equipment, and student research internships.
“I am struck immediately by the honor of becoming the third member of a group that includes Roy Miller and Rich Dallinger,” said Dr. Feller. “The two previous holders of this chair established records of teaching excellence, scholarly accomplishment, and service in leadership to the College that set the highest possible standards for a faculty member. Certainly my first goal as Lloyd B. Howell Professor of Chemistry will be to work towards the benchmarks that Roy and Rich have set.”
“Scott Feller is an excellent choice to serve as the Howell Chair in Chemistry,” said Wabash President Patrick White. “As a research scientist, teacher, and mentor, his good influence extends deep into multiple fields and broadly across the nation and beyond. As a faculty leader at Wabash he is forthright and thoughtful, a true visionary who is also eager to tackle the hard details of positive change.”
Dr. Feller has authored 65 peer-reviewed publications with over 4,000 citations in the scientific literature in journals covering chemistry, biochemistry, biophysics, molecular biology, physics, computer science, and chemical pedagogy. He has collaborated with faculty colleagues at Wabash (Ann Taylor, Dallinger, Charles Blaich, Paul McKinney), as well as 20 undergraduate students and with laboratories around the world. He has made more than 120 conference presentations and invited seminars.
“There is a sense of pride in having my work associated with one of the giants of the Wabash science tradition,” added Feller. “Doc Howell is certainly a legend in our department, admired both for his teaching and for the significant accomplishments of his many students. His students’ establishment of this endowed chair is certainly a great testament to the impact he had on them and it reminds us how transformative our work as faculty can be when carried out at the highest level of excellence.”
Feller has received more than $1.5 million in research grant funding to support his work, which includes 17 consecutive years of funding from the National Science Foundation to study questions in membrane biophysics.
