Citation read by Charles Schulz, Professor of Physics.

I find myself challenged to present one stupid joke. To all of you humanities majors, social science majors were pleased to give you one last exhibition of applied hydrodynamics today. The Faculty Achievement Award is given annually to a faculty member nominated by his or her peers and selected by the faculty personnel committee. The award is for distinguished achievement in research, teaching, and/or service to the college. 

It is my privilege to announce the 2018 winner of the Knox College Faculty Achievement Award: Professor Fred Hord. Fred Hord is being recognized today for his extraordinary career accomplishments in teaching, academic research and writing, artistic production, and service to the College and other communities.

Fred has been a professor at Knox College for 30 years, and during this time, he has been a pioneering leader on campus, in the local Galesburg community, and at the national level. Time constraints prevent me from giving a complete recitation of Professor Hord's accomplishments, but I will provide a brief overview.

When Fred Hord arrived on the Knox campus in 1988, he was given the daunting mandate of creating and running a Black Studies program, where none had existed before. Since that time, Fred has succeeded in establishing the foundational Africana Studies curriculum, working with other faculty and programs to create some of the first interdisciplinary courses at Knox, and recruiting other faculty of color in order to diversify the curriculum and mentor students from all backgrounds and cultures. Professor Hord's success at Knox has gained notice in larger circles. He has served on the executive board of the National Council for Black Studies, and has long been in demand as a consultant for Ethnic and Africana Studies programs across the country, including the University of Iowa, the University of Maryland, and Lake Forest College.

Fred Hord's accomplishments as chair of Africana Studies are even more remarkable, when one considers his exceptional record of publication. Early in his career, Fred established himself as an important literary theorist with his book "Reconstructing Memory: Black Literary Criticism," published in 1991. Several years later, he expanded his expertise into the field of philosophy, co-editing with Jonathan Lee "I Am Because We Are: A Black Philosophy Reader," published in 1995 and now in its second edition. With his forthcoming book, "The Reluctant Emancipator," an anthology of African American perspectives on Abraham Lincoln, Fred will enter the field of history and biography. He has served on the editorial boards of important academic journals, including the International Journal of Africana Studies, Collegiate Press, and the Journal of Black Studies, among others.

As if all of this were not enough, Fred is also known as a prolific writer and performer of poetry. In the Knox community we are familiar with Professor Hord's work through his regular on-campus readings, but the larger world knows Fred through the poems that he has published in refereed journals over the last 40 years, and through his 2013 collection entitled "Into Africa, Being Black: New and Selected Poems."

At Knox College, we pride ourselves on the dedication of our students and alumni to service for community and for humanity. It is perhaps in this area that Fred is best known on campus. As a mentor and long-time advisor to individual students and student organizations like ABLE, Harambe, and various Greek organizations, Fred Hord has left his mark both inside and outside the classroom. In the Galesburg community, Fred has served as a consultant for the school system, and helped establish and lead community organizations, such as the African American Support Group.

Fred is a nationally-recognized expert on cultural centers; organizations within colleges and universities that promote academic achievement and retention of under-represented students. As the founder, president, and executive director of the Association of Black Culture Centers, Fred has coordinated and helped develop scores of culture centers around the country. He has edited two books on the subject, Black Culture Centers: The Politics of Survival and Identity (2005), and Black and Multicultural Centers: Africoncentric Perspectives, Student Retention, and Authentic Integration (2015), that have served as blueprints for other campuses.

In short, Fred's career stands as a testament to the best values of Knox College, and to the potential of academic accomplishment with purpose. I am greatly pleased and honored to congratulate our friend and colleague, Fred Hord, the 2018 Faculty Achievement Award Winner.