Andrew Jackson and Christopher Witmore join the time-honored list of Texas Tech’s finest researchers and scholars.
Andrew Jackson and Christopher Witmore were named Paul Whitfield Horn Distinguished Professors in February at Texas Tech University’s Board of Regents meeting held in Dallas.
To be designated a Horn Distinguished Professor is the highest academic honor a Texas Tech faculty member can receive. The recognition, named after the university’s first president, is bestowed upon a faculty member who has attained national or international recognition in their area of research or creative, scholarly achievement.
“It is with deep appreciation that I recognize this year’s Distinguished Horn Professors for their extraordinary contributions to Texas Tech,” said Provost and Senior Vice President Ron Hendrick. “Their commitment to academic excellence, mentorship and the pursuit of knowledge inspires our community, and their leadership in advancing research and engagement reflects the very best of our institution.”
Department Chair Andrew Jackson joined the Department of Civil, Environmental & Construction Engineering within the Edward E. Whitacre Jr. College of Engineering in 1998 and has built his career at Texas Tech ever since.
Jackson earned a Bachelor of Science from Rhodes College, with a Master of Science and doctoral degree from Louisiana State University. Jackson has more than 6,900 research citations.
“Being named a Horn Distinguished Professor has been a professional dream of mine,” Jackson says. “Perhaps not a goal, because I wasn’t sure if I could achieve something like this. When you’re at Texas Tech for decades like I’ve been, you see some incredibly impressive scholars given this designation. So, to now see my name on this list – it’s a dream realized.”
Jackson has developed a distinguished research record rooted in solving complex environmental and engineering challenges. Among the projects most meaningful to him are his federal research examining the chemical perchlorate and its effects in West Texas, as well as his research for NASA’s Johnson Space Center on water and wastewater treatment systems designed for space exploration.
The culture of the department Jackson now leads is what shaped him as a researcher in many ways.
“The faculty who work here have such a willingness to collaborate,” he says. “When I first arrived at Texas Tech, senior faculty really bent over backwards to find ways to involve me in what they were doing and open doors of opportunity for me.”
Jackson endeavors to pay this forward in his own research and teaching.
“I love waiting for data to come back and discover what the answer to a problem may be,” he explains. “And I’ve found that I love teaching graduate students to do the same, and seeing their research careers unfold.”
Jackson plans to use the endowment that comes with the designation to further research that serves West Texas and advance his research for NASA.
President’s Excellence in Research Professor of Archaeology and Classics Christopher Witmore joined the faculty at Texas Tech in 2009 following the conclusion of a postdoctoral fellowship at Brown University. He teaches in the Department of Classical & Modern Languages & Literatures within the College of Arts & Sciences.
Witmore earned his Bachelor of Arts from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, his Master of Arts from the University of Sheffield and his doctoral degree from Stanford University.
Witmore’s research spans impressively broad intellectual terrain, including agrarianism, archaeological theory and practice, chorography, thing theory and material culture studies, the history of archaeology, science and technology, among other areas. His work wrestles with fundamental questions about what it means to reckon with the past.
He has written five books and has been published more than 80 times in research articles, book chapters and other essays, including an op-ed in the New York Times. Witmore has more than 6,500 research citations.
“Archaeology offers a rare purpose: to work with the myriad memories of other times that have gathered in our present; to draw lessons from them in service of the lives we must live; and to better understand what it means to be a part of the human adventure across deep time,” Witmore says.
He notes that securing a position in his field of study is difficult, particularly at a research-intensive university. He considers himself lucky to have become an assistant professor in 2009 when there were only two such positions open in the U.S.
“What keeps me at Texas Tech though, is the strength of its community, the students, colleagues and the institutional support,” he says. “This designation is a tremendous honor and a deeply humbling experience. I am grateful for the opportunity to learn from this community, and I can only hope to return their confidence and trust by continuing my research to the best of my abilities.”
About Horn Distinguished Professors
In 1966, the Board of Regents established the Horn Distinguished Professorship to recognize scholarly achievement and outstanding service to Texas Tech. Nominations of prospective Horn Distinguished Professors are made in confidence by the college deans, department chairs and other Horn Professors. The Board of Regents has approved the appointment of 102 faculty members to Horn Distinguished Professorships.