UH Board of Regents approves Regents' Medal of Distinction honor to UH Manoa philosophy professor Eliot Deutsch

BOR also approves two endowed chair positions in respiratory health at the medical school

University of Hawaiʻi
Contact:
Carolyn Tanaka, (808) 956-9803
Mia Noguchi, (808) 956-9095
External Affairs & University Relations
Posted: May 20, 2005

HONOLULU — The University of Hawaiʻi Board of Regents (BOR) approved the conferring of the Regents‘ Medal of Distinction to UH Mānoa Professor Eliot Deutsch at its monthly meeting held yesterday at the John A. Burns School of Medicine in Kakaʻako.

The Regents‘ Medal of Distinction is awarded at the discretion of the BOR to individuals of exceptional accomplishment and distinction who have made significant contributions to the university, state, region, or nation, within their field of endeavor.

One of the leading philosophy scholars in the world, Deutsch has led the UH Mānoa Department of Philosophy as chair since 1997. Under his leadership, the department has become broadly acknowledged to be the world‘s center for comparative philosophy. As a leader of the comparative philosophy movement, Deutsch founded the Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy and later became its president.

Regarded as one of the philosophy department‘s most popular teachers, Deutsch has also brought great credit to the university through his work to make the East-West Philosophers‘ Conference a preeminent international conference, growing it from its more modest beginnings to one of the university‘s foremost academic events. Some 200 philosophers from 25 countries will be attending this year‘s conference, the Ninth East-West Philosophers‘ Conference, where Deutsch will be presented with the medal at its opening ceremony on May 29.

In other action, the BOR approved the establishment of two endowed chair positions at the John A. Burns School of Medicine — the American Lung Association of Hawaiʻi and Leahi Fund Chair in Respiratory Health and the American Lung Association of Hawaiʻi Endowed Chair in Neonatal Respiratory Health. Both positions will serve as avenues for the university to partner with the American Lung Association of Hawaiʻi to advance the medical school‘s research and scholarship in pulmonary medicine, and to prevent lung disease and promote lung health in Hawaiʻi through education, research and advocacy.

In personnel actions, the BOR approved the appointment of Leeward Community College Vice Chancellor Peter Quigley as interim chancellor for the campus. Quigley‘s appointment is effective June 1, 2005, as current Leeward CC Chancellor Mark Silliman goes on professional improvement leave, after which he will return to another position elsewhere within the UH system.

Quigley has been working in higher education for 25 years, and was dean of the College of Arts and Humanities at Minnesota State University before joining the Leeward CC staff. He has taught at several community colleges, and has been a professor of English and humanities at universities in the United States and Europe. In addition to being a Fulbright Scholar, he has published numerous articles and a book in the field of environmental literature.