Distinguished Professor Karen Wooley Distinguishes Herself Once Again
JOHN L. JUNKINSInterim President
April 16, 2021
Howdy Ags,
This week we were thrilled to receive exciting news about a prominent member of our faculty. In the span of less than a week, Distinguished Professor Karen Wooley was awarded two prestigious honors from the Southeastern Conference - an SEC Faculty Achievement Award and the title of 2021 SEC Professor of the Year.
A renowned University Distinguished Professor in our Department of Chemistry, Dr. Wooley has earned a host of impressive accolades in recent years, including induction into the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Inventors, adding to her status as one of the most accomplished and innovative polymer chemists of her generation.
While Dr. Wooley's inspiring individual accomplishments have brought great honor to our university, her achievements also highlight the strengths of her department and our entire academic community. The only Texas A&M faculty member previously named SEC Professor of the Year was Dr. Wooley's colleague in our Department of Chemistry, Dr. Marcetta Darensbourg, who earned the recognition in 2018.
Dr. Wooley and Dr. Darensbourg are two of several thousand outstanding faculty members at Texas A&M, who each day are pushing back the boundaries of discovery while also acting as mentors for their colleagues and teachers for the rising generation of students. Every day our faculty are engaged in solving some of the greatest challenges for our region, our state and the world. Collectively, their groundbreaking work helped us cross the $1 billion mark for total research expenditures last year, making Texas A&M the first university in the state to surpass this important milestone and join 12 other major universities whose research funding exceeds $1 billion.
Please join me in congratulating Distinguished Professor Karen Wooley for being named the 2021 SEC Professor of the Year, and thanking her and her colleagues for their ongoing efforts to advance discovery at Texas A&M and improve the lives of people throughout the world.
Gig 'em,
John L. Junkins
Interim President