"Victor H. Yngve exemplifies interdisciplinary work, the very essence of information science."
Soon another baton will be passed. Effective fall 2007, Dean Blaise Cronin has appointed Dr. Katy Börner the Victor H. Yngve Associate Professor of Information Science, succeeding Javed Mostafa, who was the first recipient of the professorship. Charles H. Davis and Debora Shaw established the professorship in 1998 to honor Dr. Yngve's extensive contributions to the field of information science.
About Victor H. Yngve
"Victor H. Yngve exemplifies interdisciplinary work, the very essence of information science. He has published extensively in physics, computer science, and linguistics, as well as in library and information science. Yngve began his career as a physicist, but has always been intrigued by the computer's potential for machine translation of natural languages. Accordingly, he directed his attention to computational linguistics, developing techniques that fostered a clinical approach to textual analysis.
During the 1950s Yngve created COMIT, the first major programming language for text processing. Many of this language's features were incorporated first into other programming languages and then into today's word processors. Technological achievements aside, Yngve's theoretical and philosophical contributions warrant recognition.
Sensitive to the human condition, Yngve has helped us focus on how we acquire knowledge by communicating effectively, a key issue in information science. Through his teaching and writing, he has challenged us to think originally and analytically about how we communicate. Specifically, he has warned against making unwarranted assumptions about language, however deeply entrenched they may have become. The history of science has taught us that major progress can be made when we approach subjects from a fresh and unbiased perspective. Yngve makes a powerful case for applying the scientific method to the study of language, an approach that promises deeper insights into information storage and retrieval and communication processes generally." [SLIS Alumni News, Spring 1998]
The professorship was established in 1998 by a gift from two SLIS graduates: Charles H. "Chuck" Davis (M.A.'66, Ph.D.'69) is a senior fellow at SLIS, and Debora "Ralf" Shaw (Ph.D.'83) is a SLIS professor and associate dean. "A great part of our success in life is because of our education at SLIS and the relationships that were formed there. This gift is part payback and part investment in the future of the information science program at IU." [SLIS Alumni News, Spring 1998]
Related Link: Victor Yngve (Wikipedia feature)
Posted July 18, 2007