Russ Family Professorship in the Humanities

In 2000, PHILIP and MELISSA RUSS began the process of endowing a professorship in appreciation for the education that their son, Manuel Benjamin “Ben” Russ, received at the Johns Hopkins University Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts and Sciences. Ben Russ, a member of the Class of 2000, majored in history and graduated with departmental honors. In bestowing upon the school a professorship in the humanities, the Russ family has demonstrated its belief in the fundamental importance of scholarship in the humanities and a shared vision with the School of Arts and Sciences to build upon its enduring strengths in these disciplines.

The humanities programs at Johns Hopkins reflect the characteristic qualities of an intellectual community. The coordinated study of Western civilization through its literature, art, philosophy, and history has been one of the oldest continuing concerns at Hopkins. Because it has remained by design and tradition the smallest of the major American universities and because of the interdisciplinary interests of some of its most distinguished faculty, Hopkins has fostered to a remarkable degree the free exchange between scholars and students across departmental boundaries. The Russ Professorship demonstrates the commitment of Arts and Sciences alumni to the continued excellence of the humanities at Johns Hopkins.