News Release

New Faculty Appointments Announced by Johns Hopkins University

Frances M. Kamm, formerly of New York University, has been appointed the Luce Professor of Bioethics and Moral and Political Theory in the Department of Philosophy (with a dual appointment in the Bioethics Institute), effective July 1, 1999. Kamm's expertise is in the issues surrounding life and death. Her work in this field has been characterized as "probing, rigorous, analytically powerful, insightful, imaginative and original." She earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy at Barnard College, in 1969, and a PhD in philosophy at MIT, in 1980.

Michael Moon, formerly of Duke University, has been appointed professor in the Department of English. Moon's areas of research are in American literature and gender studies. His book, Disseminating Whitman, is considered at the top of the field of Whitman scholarship. He earned a bachelor's degree in general studies at Columbia University, in 1979, and a PhD in English at Johns Hopkins, in 1988.

Gyanendra Pandey, formerly of the University of Delhi, has been appointed professor in the Department of Anthropology. Pandey is a leading figure in the field of the South Asian subcontinent and has been at the forefront of some of the most important academic debates in the field of culture and politics in the last decade. A Rhodes scholar, he earned a PhD at Oxford University, in 1975.

Morris L. Swartz, formerly staff physicist at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, has been appointed professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. Swartz is a leader in the field of experimental particle physics. Colleagues consider him an innovator and a highly creative and effective contributor to high energy physics. He earned a bachelor's degree in physics at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, in 1976, and a PhD in physics at the University of Chicago, in 1983.

Ethan Vishniac, formerly of the University of Texas, Austin, has been appointed professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. A highly regarded theoretical astrophysicist, his research also extends to the field of condensed matter and high-energy physics. He was awarded the 1990 Warner Prize, the most important honor granted by the American Astronomical Society to members under 40 years of age. He earned a bachelor's degree in physics and applied mathematics at the University of Rochester, in 1976, and a PhD in astronomy at Harvard University, in 1980.