Chemistry Professor Recognized for his Teaching and Scholarship

Kenneth Mills, professor of chemistry at the College of the Holy Cross, was recently named a Cottrell Scholar by the Research Corporation for Science Advancement. Through this award, Mills is recognized among the best teacher-scholars in chemistry, physics, and astronomy who have shown excellence and innovation in their research program and academic leadership skills.

“It is an honor to be recognized alongside many great colleagues at leading liberal arts colleges,” offers Mills, who was awarded the Cottrell College Science Award in 2003.

The Cottrell Scholar Program welcomes members from both research and primary undergraduate institutions into a highly diverse and interdisciplinary community of the nation’s best teacher-scholars, and aims to further develop and nurture the efforts of its members through various opportunities, including an invitation to the annual Cottrell Scholar Conference where  new ideas for collaborative projects often emerge.

“Being part of a network of peers at both liberal arts institutions and research-focused institutions who care about both teaching and research is an important resource,” says Mills. “It is always invigorating to catch up with colleagues at national meetings, and this network will augment those opportunities.”

Mills further explains that this award is a testament to the hard work and dedication of his research students over the past 14 years, and holds as much value for them as it does for him.

“It is important that students see their faculty as active scholars alongside them, such that what we are asking them to do in the teaching and research labs is an authentic experience,” says Mills. “Having faculty members (and students) who are active scholars presenting the results of their work at national meetings and in the peer-reviewed literature of professional societies encourages students to be participants in science, and to be engaged in what is ‘now’ and ‘tomorrow,’ not just what has already made the textbooks.”

Mills has been a member of the chemistry faculty since 2001 and served as the chair of the chemistry department from 2010 to 2014. In 2011, he was honored with the Mary Louise Marfuggi Faculty Award for Outstanding Scholarship, which is given to a faculty member with an exemplary record of scholarship and distinguished achievement in the creation of an original work in the arts and sciences.