Two venerable Denison professors were recognized for their achievement at the college's recent Academic Awards Convocation held on April 21 in Swasey Chapel on the Denison campus. Professor of Modern LanguagesCharles O'Keefewas named as the 2006 winner of the Charles A. Brickman Teaching Excellence Award, and Professor of Political ScienceEmmett H. Buell Jr.was installed as the first holder of the Class of 1954 Richard G. Lugar Professorship in Public Policy.

Charlie O'Keefe, who joined the Denison faculty in 1975, was lauded by Provost David Anderson as someone who has "written eloquently about the need for teachers to re-create themselves as the world and they themselves change constantly and unpredictably."

"An inspiring teacher, a meticulous scholar, a colleague who has taken responsibility and served with distinction as a department chair, a village elder, and a person more alive to the wry ironies of life than anyone I know," continued Anderson, "our honoree is one of the reasons why Denison offers such a stimulating, varied, and energized intellectual atmosphere."

At Denison, O'Keefe serves as chair of the modern languages department, a position he has held since 2003, as well as having served as associate chair in 1988 and 1989. He was assistant director of the Honors Program for one year and director of Denison's South African Education Program Summer Orientation in 1984. He has received Robert Good Faculty Fellowships for full-time research in 1986, 1993 and 1999, as well as numerous professional development grants and a course development grant. O'Keefe was a teaching fellow of the Great Lakes College Association in 1976-77 and participated in a NEH summer seminar on contemporary critical theory in 1986.

He came to Denison after teaching at Duke University and the University of Pittsburgh. He also has served as director of Pittsburgh's off-campus program in Rouen, France, and as resident director of Sweet Briar College's Junior Year in Paris program. O'Keefe still serves as a member of the advisory board for Sweet Briar's program.

A magna cum laude graduate of Saint Peter's College (Jersey City, N.J.), O'Keefe earned his doctorate at Duke University. He has written articles that have been published in The French Review and Literary Onomastics Studies, presented papers at numerous Annual Cincinnati Conferences for Romance Languages and Literature and at conferences for Literary Onomastics and for Literature and Film. This year, O'Keefe's scholarly book that offers a subtle and searching reading of a key text(La place de l' etoile)by the French author Patick Modiano was published.

Emmett Buelljoined Denison's political science department in 1969. The new Lugar Professorship was established by donations to the Golden Anniversary Fund at the 50th reunion of the class of 1954 in honor of their distinguished classmate who has served as a member of the U.S. Senate since 1976. Buell has served as director of Denison's Richard G. Lugar Program in Politics and Public Service since its establishment in 1995. The class of 1954 gift also permanently endows the Lugar internship program.

In his role as Lugar Professor, Buell also will direct the Lugar Colloquium in Public Policy, which was established with the same gift. The Lugar Colloquium will periodically bring to campus leaders and policy makers of national and international stature to reflect upon matters of the gravest import for public policy. Denison will disseminate the results of those deliberations through publication and other means and will provide Denison students with the opportunity for personal engagement with these leaders in classrooms and discussion halls.

Buell has written prolifically on presidential nominating politics and on presidential elections. He authored "School Desegregation and Defended Neighborhoods: The Boston Controversy" in 1982 with Richard Brisbin, co-edited "Nominating the President" with Lee Sigelman in 1991 and "Enduring Controversies in Presidential Nominating Politics" in 2004. He is working on a book about negative campaigning in the presidential elections of 1960 to 1996, also with Sigelman of George Washington University. He has contributed chapters to more than 10 books, including "In Pursuit of the White House: 2000: How We Choose Our Presidential Nominees" edited by William G. Mayer. His scholarly articles have appeared in The American Journal of Political Science, The Journal of Politics, Social Science Quarterly, The Journal of Law and Politics, American Politics Quarterly, and Urban Affairs Quarterly.

In addition to his published works, Buell is frequently sought out by reporters to give his views on the presidential nominating races. In 1999-2000, for example, he was interviewed by the BBC, the Voice of America, the Akron Beacon Journal, Boston Globe, Christian Science Monitor, Dallas Morning News, Houston Chronicle, Indianapolis Star, Knight-Ridder news services, Newsday, Pittsburgh Post Gazette and the Washington Post.

Buell earned his bachelor's and master's degrees at Louisiana State University and his doctorate at Vanderbilt University. He regularly teaches courses on the politics of Congress, American government, the Supreme Court in the political process and U.S. presidential selection. Whenever possible, he arranges for his class on the presidential nomination process to follow presidential candidates on the campaign trail, usually during the New Hampshire primary.

Denison University, located in, was founded in 1831 and is a privately supported, coeducational college of liberal arts and sciences, offering three different bachelor's degrees (B.A., B.S. and B.F.A.) among more than 40 majors and concentrations. Some 2,100 full-time undergraduate students represent 47 states and 34 foreign countries. Denison is fully accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools and is a member of the Great Lakes Colleges Association (GLCA) and a founding member of the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC). Denison's chapter of Phi Beta Kappa was established in 1910. Dale T. Knobel is Denison's 19th president.

About Denison:

Denison University, founded in 1831, is an independent, residential liberal arts institution located in Granville, Ohio. A highly selective college enrolling 2,100 full-time undergraduate students from all 50 states and dozens of foreign countries, Denison is a place where innovative faculty and motivated students collaborate in rigorous scholarship, civic engagement and the cultivation of independent thinking.

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