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The Graduate School at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in conjunction with the Office of the Provost has announced the Distinguished Research Professor Award to two faculty members: Kristine Hildebrandt, PhD, and Faith Liebl, PhD.

The committee of distinguished research faculty awarded Drs. Hildebrandt and Liebl the promotion to Distinguished Research Professor based on each of their significant research output and the  broad impact their research has had on their respective fields.

Hildebrandt was promoted to Distinguished Research Professor of English based on sustained scholarly publications and external funding activity, significant achievements in the field of Linguistics, and “the resounding recognition” from top researchers in the field. The committee especially recognized her vast contributions with research in linguistics and language systems locally at SIUE, nationally, and internationally.

Hildebrandt co-founded and co-directed the Interdisciplinary Research and Informatics Scholarship (IRIS) Center, which supports faculty and students who want to use digital tools in their study of literature, languages, art, history, and sociology.

"I'm greatly honored to receive the Distinguished Research Professor award/promotion. While this award recognizes a career's worth of discovery and dissemination of my work in linguistics and the digital humanities, I also want to acknowledge that this work has very frequently been in collaboration with other scholars here at SIUE and internationally, and also with SIUE students,” said Hildebrandt.

Hildebrandt is also a recipient of SIUE’s 2017 Paul Simon Outstanding Teacher-Scholar award. She has served as a Principal Investigator (PI) and collaborator on significant grant awards and is the Tibetan-Himalayan Library SHANTI (Sciences, Humanities and Arts Initiatives of Technical Humanities) creator of audio-video archival collections representing four indigenous languages of Nepal: Gyalsumdo, Gurung, Manange, and Nar-Phu.

She added, “I also owe a profound amount of gratitude to the communities in Nepal who have generously shared with me the beauty of their languages and cultures through the years. My scholarly work will continue very much in the same way that it has unfolded, which brings me great personal satisfaction. I am working on a co-authored book on the fascinating ways in which languages of South and Southeast Asia encode spatial dimensions in their vocabularies and grammars. I am also collaborating with a wide network of scholars, graduate students, and indigenous community members from across the United States and beyond to identify ways to integrate ethical and community-engaged methods into language documentation research."

Liebl has been promoted to Distinguished Research Professor of Biological Sciences. The committee noted significant achievements in the field of biological sciences, and the resounding recognition Liebl has received from top scientists in the field.

Liebl has had exceptional success in securing external funding, including three NIH grants totaling more than $913,000. 

“My promotion to Distinguished Research Professor was only possible because of the many students who participated in research in my lab and the support I have received from the department, CAS, and the Graduate School. These collectively allowed me to obtain external funds for my work, which examines how gene expression is regulated to promote the remodeling of neurons as a result of experience,” said Liebl.

Liebl’s teacher-scholar research model at SIUE explores her area of expertise in using models of neurodevelopmental disorders in order to identify novel mechanisms and treatments for affected individuals. Courses covering cell and molecular biology and molecular genetics offer lab experiments with the model organism, the Drosophila melanogaster (i.e. fruit fly), and the ability for researchers to better understand the function of specific gene products associated with epilepsy, neurodegeneration, and excitotoxic cell death.

When it comes to future goals, Liebl stated, “My future goals for the lab are similar to those throughout my career. These goals include training students in experimental design and analyses while discovering novel mechanisms that regulate activity-dependent gene expression in neurons. In addition, I plan to continue to collaborate with other scientists in the US to advance our understanding of learning and memory and neurodegenerative diseases.”

Christopher Slaten, PhD, Associate Provost for Research and Dean of the Graduate School, stated, “Drs. Hildebrandt and Liebl exemplify what the Distinguished Research Professor designation is intended to recognize: sustained scholarly excellence, intellectual leadership in their fields, and research that extends well beyond the boundaries of our campus. Their work reflects not only significant research productivity, but also deep intellectual influence, meaningful collaboration with students, and broad impact at the local, national, and international levels. We are proud to recognize their contributions, which advance knowledge, enrich the academic mission of SIUE, and demonstrate the powerful role that research plays in serving both scholarly communities and society at large.”

Both professors receive a $1,000 increase in their academic year base salary along with the Graduate School providing additional research funding within their department and/or school. 

In addition to a plaque to be placed outside the Graduate School in recognition of their achievements, Drs. Hildebrandt and Liebl will also receive a medallion, to be presented at the Provost’s Celebration of Research Reception on Tuesday, March 31, 2026.

PHOTO: Kristine Hildebrandt, PhD, Distinguished Research Professor of English and Faith Liebl, PhD, Distinguished Research Professor of Biological Sciences