The University of Arizona will induct its newest class of Regents' Professors and a new University Distinguished Professor in a campus ceremony on Thursday, Dec. 9.

The Regents' Professors include S. James Anaya, professor of law; Edgar Dryden, professor of English; and Marcia Rieke, professor of astronomy. The sole University Distinguished Professor this year is Mary M. Poulton. The Arizona Board of Regents approved their designations in June.

The Regents' Professor award is the highest honor accorded by the University to full professors for academic achievements that have earned them national and international acclaim.

The University Distinguished Professor award honors faculty members who have shown a long-term commitment to undergraduate education and have made outstanding contributions at the UA.

Poulton is an industry and educational innovator. As the head of the UA's mining and geological engineering department, she has worked to advance the department's Web-based and technological learning environment, and with its San Xavier Mining Laboratory – the only mining lab in the U.S. with a working vertical shaft, multiple modes of underground access and multiple working levels – she has made the department a renowned teaching and research facility.