Scholarship & Excellence

Professor Derrick Swartz, chemistry lab coordinator from the natural sciences department was named the Outstanding Faculty Member at President Olson’s State of the College address in April 2021. Professor Swartz, who joined Daemen College in 2002, has expertise in biochemistry, general chemistry concepts, forensic chemistry techniques, and laboratory safety. Professor Swartz has worked with students on numerous undergraduate research projects in biochemistry and forensic science. He has been nominated for the top ten freshman luncheon several times since 2007. During his time at Daemen, he has designed several chemistry/forensic science classes for all levels of students, including a writing-intensive Introduction to Forensic Science class (FOR 101), Advanced Forensic Science course (CHE 337/337L), and the CHE 110 Intersession Challenge course. The Intersession Challenge course has run since 2013 and was a Title-III initiative designed to help struggling chemistry students stay on track with their degrees.

Professor Swartz also works with CHE 110L/CHE 111L students extensively on communication (oral and written), problem-solving, and critical thinking skills in the laboratory. Professor Swartz is a graduate of Erie Community College (A.A.S. in criminal justice), The State University of New York College at Buffalo (B.A. in chemistry & B.S. in forensic science), and Clarkson University (M.S. in biochemistry with an emphasis on protein interactions with ligands).

After serving the college for 43 years, Dr. Robert Morace retired from the English department in December 2020. Morace holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Science from SUNY College at Cortland and he received his Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina. His early academic career focused on late 19th to early 20th century American literature, before transitioning to the scholarly study of American, English, and Scottish contemporary fiction.

Morace was a prolific author and editor, whose books include John Gardner: Critical Perspectives (1982), John Gardner: An Annotated Secondary Bibliography (1984), The Dialogic Novels of Malcolm Bradbury and David Lodge (1989), Irvine Welsh’s Trainspotting: A Reader’s Guide (2001), Irvine Welsh (2007), and Critical Insights: John Cheever (2012). He also published more than eighty articles in scholarly journals and book collections and well over one hundred book reviews and reference book articles. He was an advisor for two volumes of the Contemporary Literary Criticism series and an outside reader for a number of scholarly journals and university presses. He has served as consulting editor for the journal Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction and is on the editorial board for Symbiosis: Transatlantic Literary and Cultural Studies and also has co-chaired the Symbiosis conference.

Morace has shared his scholarship throughout the world, traveling for lectures and presentations in India, China, Poland, Scotland, England, Serbia, Ireland, and Canada. Initially a Senior Fulbright Lecturer at Warsaw University from 1985 to 1987, he visited again in 2018. Likewise, he taught at Beijing University of Chinese Medicine in 2010, 2012, and 2015. Morace also gave the keynote address at the first John Gardner conference in 1998.

Morace won the University of Wyoming Burger Prize for best theatre essay (1996) on the Chilean writer Ariel Dorfman's play Death. During his long tenure at Daemen, Morace served as chair of the English department three times (1982–1985, 1998–2004, 2008–2014) and was honored with several awards, including the Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award (1979), Outstanding Faculty Member of the Year Award (2007), and inaugural Distinguished Professor (2016).