Interim Dean Bonnie White announced the appointment of Mark Fischman as a Wayne T. Smith Distinguished Professor and Mary Rudisill as the Humana-Germany-Sherman Distinguished Professor. The college will honor Fischman and Rudisill in a ceremony at 5 p.m. Nov. 18 at the Auburn Alumni Center.

The two professors in the Department of Health and Human Performance are prominent teachers in the college and are widely published national authorities in their disciplines.

Fischman, an AU faculty member for 16 years, has conducted extensive research and writing in human development of motor skills and is testing theoretical models of how people learn skills and control movement. He holds degrees from City College of New York and James Madison University and a doctorate from Pennsylvania State University.

Rudisill, who has been at AU since 1996, is an authority on early childhood motor development. Besides teaching at Auburn, she is also active in research and outreach programs that combine education and physical activities for children in preschools and elementary schools. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Appalachian State University and a doctorate from Florida State University.

White said the faculty members were selected for the professorships because of their demonstrated commitment to students and high-quality instruction, research and outreach.

Other criteria included holding the rank of professor; continuing superior-level accomplishments in teaching, research and service that exceed the regularly expected performance of a professor; providing leadership in their field at the national level; and having a professional reputation that extends far beyond the AU campus and is eminently recognized by other distinguished professors in similar roles at the national level.

The college established the professorships during the 1990s with gifts from the Humana Foundation and two alumni and their wives. The Wayne T. Smith Distinguished Professorship, established in 1994, honors an AU College of Education alumnus and retired Humana executive, and the other professorship, established in 1999, was funded by Humana, Gordy and Gloria Germany and Gordon and Miriam Sherman.