Highest faculty honor
Penny Kris-Etherton awarded Evan Pugh Professorship
This article is excerpted from a story originally published on Penn State News on June 02, 2020.
Penny Kris-Etherton, distinguished professor of nutrition, has been named an Evan Pugh Professor, an elite and prestigious distinction conferred by the University on only 73 faculty members since the establishment of the designation in 1960.
The professorships are named for Penn State’s founding president, Evan Pugh, a renowned chemist and scholar who was at the helm of the University from 1859 to 1864. The Evan Pugh Professorships are awarded to faculty members who are nationally or internationally recognized leaders in their fields of research or creative activity; demonstrate significant leadership in raising the standards of the University with respect to teaching, research or creativity, and service; display excellent teaching skills with undergraduate and graduate students who go on to achieve distinction in their fields; and receive support from colleagues who also are leaders in their disciplines.
An advisory committee of seven Penn State faculty members, including three Evan Pugh professors, reviews nominations for the honor and makes recommendations to the University president.
Of the 73 Evan Pugh Professors, 23 are still actively teaching and pursuing research or creative work at Penn State.
About Penny Kris-Etherton
Distinguished Professor of Nutrition Penny Kris-Etherton’s research expertise is cardiovascular nutrition. She has served on numerous national committees that have issued dietary guidelines, and as a member of the American Heart Association (AHA) Nutrition Committee she co-authored numerous scientific statements and advisories that have made diet and lifestyle recommendations for the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease. She is chair of the AHA Council on Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic Health, and a fellow of the American Heart Association, the National Lipid Association (where she served as president), and the American Society for Nutrition.
Award Honoring Kris-Etherton
The newly established Penny M. Kris-Etherton Doctoral Award Fund will benefit promising graduate students who are pursuing their doctoral degrees in nutritional sciences.
She has published over 400 papers in the peer-reviewed literature and has received numerous national awards for her accomplishments and contributions to the profession.
She received her doctorate in nutrition from the University of Minnesota and was Kathryn McCormick Postdoctoral Scholar at Stanford University.
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