Editors: Photographs of the three professors are available by calling (303) 492-3113.
Three University of Colorado at Boulder faculty members were named distinguished professors by the CU Board of Regents at its Dec. 9 meeting.
Delbert Elliott, director of the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence and professor of sociology; Margaret Eisenhart, professor of education; and Allan McMurray, director of bands and professor of music received the prestigious designation. They join only 25 other CU-Boulder faculty members ever to be named distinguished professor.
The designation of distinguished professor is bestowed on members of the university's faculty "who have distinguished themselves as exemplary teachers, scholars and public servants, and who are individuals having extraordinary international importance and recognition," according to Regents' law.
Elliott is internationally recognized as an authority on violence prevention and is perhaps best known for conducting the longest national study of criminal behavior and drug use by a group of adolescents and young adults in the United States. Until 2003, he was the principal investigator of the ongoing 27-year study, which has followed the subjects from age 11 to 44.
He was the senior science editor for the U.S. Surgeon General's Report to the Nation on Youth Violence in 2001. Elliott's violence prevention center coordinated the Safe Communities-Safe Schools initiative that offered safe school planning assistance to every school in Colorado.
Elliott is the author of seven books on juvenile delinquency, drugs and mental health. His latest book, "Good Kids From Bad Neighborhoods," is forthcoming. He also has received many national awards, including the Public Health Service Medallion for Distinguished Service from U.S. Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher in 2001, and an outstanding achievement award from the U.S. Department of Justice in 1998. Elliott has taught at CU-Boulder since 1967.
Eisenhart specializes in the study of culture, gender relations, women in science and women's experiences and achievement in elementary and secondary schools, colleges, universities and workplaces.
Among her most important research is her 1990 book "Educated in Romance: Women, Achievement and College Culture." In the book Eisenhart describes a study she conducted where she followed a group of 23 freshman women through college to determine their career ambitions. She found that two-thirds of the women either abandoned their career aspirations before leaving college or subordinated their careers to their relationships with men.
In 1999 she created Simply the Best!, an after-school science and technology program for middle school girls in downtown Denver. Now in its sixth year, the program's goals are to cultivate an interest in science among minority girls, while providing training in basic and sophisticated technology skills to increase their ability to succeed in school and the workplace after completing their education.
Eisenhart is a member of the National Academy of Education and many other professional organizations in educational research and anthropology. She was the 2001 recipient of the Elizabeth Gee Award for outstanding contributions to research, teaching and service for women. A professor at CU-Boulder's School of Education since 1987, she holds the Bob and Judy Charles Endowed Chair in Education.
McMurray holds the Bob and Judy Charles Endowed Chair in Music and is chair of the conducting faculty and director of bands at CU-Boulder, a position he has held for 26 years. Considered one of the world's leading teachers of conducting, McMurray has guest conducted and taught conductors in 45 states and 15 foreign countries. He has been a featured visiting professor at more than 200 universities and conservatories and has authored two DVDs on the art of conducting that have received international acclaim.
Since McMurray's arrival at CU-Boulder in 1978, the CU Bands have distinguished themselves with performances at major conferences and conventions in the United States and abroad, including in Japan and England.
With a strong commitment to new music, McMurray has been a leader in commissioning more than 30 compositions by American composers. He has won praise for his interpretive and expressive conducting by many composers, including Pulitzer Prize-winners John Harbison, Joseph Schwantner, Karel Husa, Michael Colgrass and George Crumb.