Two professors were awarded tenure at the June Board of Trustees meeting: William Hope, anthropology-sociology, and Helen Hoyt '01, chemistry. Hope and Hoyt were promoted to the rank of associate professor following recommendations from the Faculty Personnel Committee, Interim Dean of the College Mike Schneider, and President Teresa Amott.

"I extend my heartfelt congratulations to both Associate Professors Hope and Hoyt," said Knox College President Teresa Amott. "I was honored to bring these valued colleagues forward to the Board and look forward to their continuing contributions to teaching and learning at our storied college."

Associate Professor of Anthropology-Sociology William Hope

Hope earned his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, M.A. from Winthrop University, and his B.A. from the College of Charleston. His teaching focuses on music and culture in the Americas, and his research covers the relationships between music making, place, and ecological design.

Hope played a leading role in alumni and student trips to Cuba to share his interests broadly. These opportunities, which he calls "creative engagements," have characterized his experience at Knox. "I was immediately drawn by the intimacy and accountability that Knox's size affords, and I've often characterized my experience of working with Knox students in terms of creative engagements," he said. Other endeavors of his include the Knox Rain Garden and a Companion Species project, the latter of which has seen continued research and engagement from students.

In the Knox community, Hope has been an active member of the Curriculum Committee, Cultural Events Committee, Off Campus Study Committee, the President's Sustainability Council, and a member of numerous search committees and director of the McNair Sophomore Seminar. In recognition of his innovative teaching, he received the Philip Green Wright-Lombard College Prize for Excellence in Teaching for Untenured Faculty in 2015. 

Associate Professor of Chemistry Helen Hoyt

Hoyt earned her Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, and her B.A. from Knox College. She is an active and creative researcher in the field of "green chemistry," the study of using readily available starting materials in chemical processes while minimizing the amount of wasteful byproducts.

Hoyt has collaborated on two National Science Foundation Major Instrumentation Grants and has earned a grant from the American Chemical Society to support student researchers. She has also received both the Philip Green Wright-Lombard College Prize for Excellence in Teaching for Untenured Faculty and the L.J. Cartier Faculty Excellence Award in 2017 and 2018 respectively.

Around campus, Hoyt has served her colleagues on the Academic Standing Committee and Curriculum Committee, in leadership of the Knox chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, and as a frequent contributor to Office of Admission events and summer academic advising. As an alum herself, Hoyt says "it feels especially meaningful to provide high quality opportunities to students in the Knox Community, to pay forward the kinds of transformative experiences I was very fortunate to have in college."