The mission of the Michael E. Moody Professorship is to inspire an appreciation for and enjoyment of the Liberal Arts and its essential role in shaping a truly educated citizen. The professorship is meant to embody what Dr. Moody valued most – rigorous scholarship, unbounded curiosity and an appreciation for aesthetics. The Moody Fund connected to the Professorship supports the Olin Art Gallery exhibitions, the Olin Student Circulating Art Collection (OSCAC), acquisition of artworks, membership in Boston area art museums for Olin students, faculty and staff and numerous other events such as sponsorship of a film series on climate change.
The Michael E. Moody Professorship was established in November of 2012 to memorialize the contributions of Dr. Moody to Olin College. He played an essential role in the development of the college, joining in 2002 as the academic program was initiated. He was vice president of academic affairs, dean of faculty and professor of mathematics at Olin college. His untimely death due to cancer at the age of 57 nonetheless left an enduring legacy for the college.
As president Richard Miller commented in 2010, “Michael Moody was the architect of the unique Olin learning culture. Olin simply wouldn’t be what it is today without Michael’s gifted leadership and enormous work ethic. He was a tremendous inspiration to us all.”
Helen Donis-Keller, Professor of Biology and Art is the inaugural and current Michael E. Moody Professor. As she commented on assuming the chair in his name, “Mike was a visionary and a person with high standards and a curiosity for learning that set an example for all who were lucky enough to know him. He effortlessly made authentic connections with students, faculty and staff encouraging everyone to strive to make the most of every opportunity to make a contribution to the world.
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Dr. Moody was not only a nationally known and well-respected professor of mathematics with a passion for the subject and for teaching, he maintained a deep and abiding interest and knowledge of the arts, humanities and social sciences. His belief in the importance of the liberal arts as a cornerstone for undergraduate education in engineering shaped the academic program with uniqueness and depth uncommon to other undergraduate engineering programs.
Prior to joining Olin, Dr. Moody was the Diana and Kenneth Jonsson professor of mathematics and chair of the mathematics department at Harvey Mudd College. Largely due to his efforts the mathematics department was awarded the American Mathematical Society’s inaugural award for an Exemplary Program or Achievement in a Mathematics Department. A seminar series in his name continues at Harvey Mudd College.
Michael E. Moody received a B.A. degree in 1975 from the University of California in San Diego with a double major in mathematics and chemical physics and double minor in history and philosophy. He pursued an interest in biological systems at the University of Chicago completing a Ph.D. thesis in population genetics in 1979. His research in biomathematics focused on genetic models for evolving populations. He completed a post-doctoral period of study at the Department of Genetics at the University of Wisconsin at Madison after which he accepted his first academic appointment at Washington State University with a joint appointment between the Department of Pure and Applied Mathematics and the Department of Genetics and Cell Biology. A Fulbright fellowship at the Institute for Mathematics at the University of Vienna from 1990- 1991 further deepened his engagement with academic research. He was a faculty member at Harvey Mudd College from 1994 until joining Olin College in 2002. He published two books on integrating technology into the calculus curriculum through laboratory experiments and he was a co-designer and developer of the award-winning multi-media ODE Architect software program for teaching and solving ordinary differential equations.