Tributes: CFA’s Susan Wharton Conkling, Pardee’s Michael T. Corgan, ENG’s Eric Schwartz, CAS’ Jacqueline Liederman

Susan Wharton Conkling: CFA Professor of Music Education

Susan Wharton Conkling, 59, a College of Fine Arts professor of music education, died on November 16, 2018.

Conkling joined the School of Music in 2010.

“Susan was fiercely devoted to her family, her students, her teaching colleagues, and a broad network of friends and associates,” says Shiela Kibbe, director ad interim of the School of Music. “Within the field of music education, she leaves a legacy of ardent pursuit of and dedication to research and scholarship, as well as faithful instruction, service, and mentoring to hundreds of music educators.”

As a conductor, Conkling was praised for sensitive and expressive performances at conferences of the American Choral Directors Association, American Orff-Schulwerk Association, and MENC: National Association for Music Education. She was known as an advocate for women’s choirs and contemporary women composers, and she conducted honor choir performances throughout the United States.

As a teacher and scholar, she led efforts to develop a Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in the field of music, beginning with a Carnegie Fellowship in 1999. At CFA, she taught graduate and undergraduate courses in choral conducting, methods, and curriculum, and she designed and implemented courses to prepare Doctor of Musical Arts candidates for their roles in higher education. She was also well known for her efforts to create professional development partnerships between public schools and collegiate schools of music.

Conkling was a board member of the Massachusetts chapter of the American Choral Directors Association, the International Society for Music Education’s Commission on the Education of the Professional Musician, and the Society for Music Teacher Education. She was also a board member of the Boston Children’s Chorus.

Michael T. Corgan: Beloved Teacher to Generations of Students

Michael T. Corgan, 77, a Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies associate professor of international relations, died on November 20, 2018.

Corgan (GRS’91) arrived at BU in 1985 as an associate professor of naval science and completed a PhD in political science at the University. In 1995, he became an associate professor in what was then the department of international relations, now the Pardee School of Global Studies. He also served as chair of the department of naval science and as an adjunct professor in the departments of political science and history. He specialized in American government institutions, international security studies, and Icelandic government and politics.

Corgan was a much-beloved teacher to generations of students. His popular course Introduction to International Relations would regularly fill Morse Auditorium. Some 12,000 students took his classes during his years at BU. He received several teaching awards, including the 2008 Frank and Lynne Wisneski Award for Excellence in Teaching.

A graduate of the US Naval Academy in naval engineering, he served in the Navy for an additional 26 years, including two tours in Vietnam and several assignments to teach at the US Naval Academy, the National War College, and the United States Naval War College. Among other medals, he was awarded the Bronze Star for his service in Vietnam. He served as the dean of academics for the Vietnamese Naval Academy of Nha Trang, political advisor to the commander of the Iceland Defense Force, and head of the Naval ROTC unit at Boston University.

Corgan authored multiple scholarly works in the field of security studies, particularly related to the Nordic and Arctic region, and was widely sought by the media as a security commentator. His book Iceland and Its Alliances: Security for a Small State (Edwin Mellen Press, 2002) has been used as a briefing guide for officers at the NATO headquarters of the Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic.

Eric Schwartz: A Pioneer in Computational Neuroscience

Eric Schwartz, 71, a College of Engineering professor of electrical and computer engineering and a pioneer in computational neuroscience, died on December 31, 2018.

Schwartz joined the BU faculty in 1992 with joint appointments in electrical and computer engineering and in cognitive and neural systems, and a secondary appointment in anatomy and neurobiology. His research focused on the computational basis of brain function, neurophysiology, and neuroanatomy of the visual system as well as computer graphics and visual computation.

Schwartz was the first to use the term computational neuroscience—a now-common phrase that encapsulates research areas such as neural networks, brain theory, and theoretical neuroscience. These areas of research are the foundation for artificial intelligence and machine learning.

He held three patents for algorithms and machinery that led to the development of the first miniature autonomous vehicle to drive the streets of Boston in 1992. Schwartz performed this research at Vision Applications, Inc., a company he founded in 1990 with support from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.—Liz Sheeley

Jacqueline Liederman: Inspiring to Students and Fellow Faculty

Jacqueline Liederman, 68, a College of Arts & Sciences professor of psychological and brain sciences, died on January 14, 2019.

In her 40-year career at BU, she mentored, taught, and collaborated with hundreds of undergraduate and graduate students and many faculty members, inspiring them with her passion and excitement for teaching, researching, and discovering new information about the functioning and development of the brain.

She published dozens of papers on the neural correlates of dyslexia and reading disabilities; the role of the corpus callosum in information processing; the neurodevelopment of handedness, interhemispheric cooperation, brain lateralization, and cerebral dominance; and neuroplasticity. She also investigated the genesis of neurodevelopmental disorders. Her work took her to the Faroe Islands, where she investigated neurodevelopmental disorders in babies whose mothers had ingested high levels of PCBs during pregnancy as a result of eating whale blubber.

Liederman, who earned a PhD at the University of Rochester in 1977, was a brilliant and revered teacher and mentor, receiving many teaching and advising awards. She was nominated and short-listed for the Boston University Metcalf Award for Excellence in Teaching and received the Templeton Award for Excellence in Student Advising and the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. Her students remember her as inspirational and rigorous, challenging them to be curious and to engage in critical analysis.

Colleagues describe Liederman as a “selfless academic” and “a true intellectual who found science thrilling.”

She leaves her husband, Les Kaufman, a CAS professor of biology, a son Justin (CAS’09), and his wife, Sarah.