Kathleen Fitzpatrick, a nationally recognized scholar of digital humanities, Professor in the Department of English, and recently appointed Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies for the College of Arts & Letters, is now a University Distinguished Professor, which is among the highest honors bestowed upon faculty by Michigan State University. 

Fitzpatrick is among the 10 MSU faculty members named University Distinguished Professors this year, each of whom are nationally and internationally recognized for their exceptional teaching, outstanding record of public service, and scholarly and creative achievements.

“Dr. Fitzpatrick epitomizes excellence in intellectual leadership and is a truly visionary international scholar and consummate teacher and mentor. Her conceptual and strategic accomplishments in stewardship are creating space for and building out vital open access digital scaffolding and archival structures,” said Sonja Fritzsche, Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies for the College of Arts & Letters, who nominated Fitzpatrick for the University Distinguished Professorship. “Dr. Fitzpatrick has dedicated her entire career to successive innovative projects in the Digital Humanities in the academy and helping leaders transform higher education in time to address society’s many complex problems. Her impact on fellow students and colleagues is immeasurable in its generosity and impact.”

Established in 1989, MSU named the first University Distinguished Professors in 1990. Since then, only 194 faculty members have been awarded this honor, including the 10 from this year. In addition to the title, University Distinguished Professors receive a stipend of $5,000 per year for five years to support their professional activities.

This year’s recipients were recommended by Interim Provost Thomas D. Jeitschko, Ph.D., and President Kevin Guskiewicz, Ph.D., and approved by the MSU Board of Trustees at its June 13, 2025, meeting. A reception to honor the newly designated University Distinguished Professors will be held on Nov. 20, 2025.

“I am deeply honored and grateful to the colleagues who nominated me,” Fitzpatrick said. “I hope that this recognition helps shine a light on the significance of the kinds of work being done across the College of Arts & Letters.”

“Dr. Fitzpatrick epitomizes excellence in intellectual leadership and is a truly visionary international scholar and consummate teacher and mentor.”

Sonja Fritzsche, Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies,College of Arts & Letters

Fitzpatrick joined Michigan State University in 2017 as a Professor in the Department of English and Director of Digital Humanities, having served in that role until July 2024 when she was appointed Interim Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies for the College of Arts & Letters. Her appointment as Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies is effective July 1, 2025, after having served in the interim role over the past year.

Fitzpatrick has spent her career creating open-source tools for academic collaboration while building resilient, sustainable scholarly communities. Her work and research interests focus on transforming universities into more open and generous spaces for cultural and intellectual work.

During her time as Director of Digital Humanities, she founded Mesh Research, a lab devoted to exploring and building open-source tools that support scholarly communication. Key among Mesh’s projects is Knowledge Commons, for which Fitzpatrick serves as Director. Knowledge Commons is an open-access and community-governed digital network that connects more than 55,000 scholars and researchers from around the world. The platform also hosts more than 30,000 academic works in its library-grade repository, KCWorks, with 6.6 million downloads since launching in 2016.

Like much of the work across Fitzpatrick’s career, Knowledge Commons is focused on nurturing scholarly communities while emphasizing connection, conversation, and collaboration. Her approach to leadership rejects the top-down, corporate-style models that have come to dominate much of higher education. Instead, she argues for a shift from hierarchical, competitive-driven structures to a focus on collective and collaborative spaces concentrated on doing good.

She explored this philosophy of leadership in depth in two of her books. In “Generous Thinking: A Radical Approach to Saving the University,” published in 2019, she details how universities can rebuild trust with the communities they serve, emphasizing listening over speaking, community over individualism, and collaboration over competition. Her newest book, “Leading Generously: Tools for Transformation,” published in October 2024 as a follow-up to “Generous Thinking,” addresses how leaders can transform their institutions to truly align with their missions and build more generous communities for the common good.

Since 2019, Fitzpatrick has served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Educopia Institute and was Board President from 2022 to 2024. She also served as a member of the Boyer 2030 Commission in developing a national blueprint for undergraduate education at U.S. research universities. This blueprint addresses the persistent equity gaps in the undergraduate educational outcomes of these institutions in an effort to advance equity, student success, and excellence in undergraduate education.

“On behalf of the College of Arts & Letters, I want to congratulate Dr. Fitzpatrick, who is truly deserving of the prestigious title of University Distinguished Professor,” said Yen-Hwei Lin, Interim Dean of the College of Arts & Letters. “Dr. Fitzpatrick is an exceptional researcher, educator, and scholar who is widely published and recognized as a leader in digital scholarly communications. She has provided strong leadership within the college and at MSU as well as nationally and internationally. Her work with Knowledge Commons provides a platform for scholars around the world to connect, share, and collaborate and to make their work publicly accessible.”

Fitzpatrick is the 13^th faculty member from the College of Arts & Letters to be named a University Distinguished Professor.

The other College of Arts & Letters faculty who have received this honor include:

2023

• Leonard Fleck – College of Arts & Letters, Philosophy; College of Human Medicine, Center for Bioethics and Social Justice

2019

• Robert T. Pennock – Lyman Briggs College; College of Arts & Letters, Philosophy; College of Engineering, Computer Science and Engineering

2003

• Howard Brody, College of Human Medicine, Family Practice; College of Arts & Letters, Philosophy; Center for Ethics & Humanities in the Life Sciences
• Marilyn Frye, College of Arts & Letters, Philosophy
• Dennis R. Preston, College of Arts & Letters, Linguistics and Languages

1997

• Susan Mary Gass, College of Arts & Letters, Linguistics, Languages, and Cultures
• Elsa Verderber, College of Arts & Letters, Music

1992

• David W. Robinson, College of Arts & Letters, History
• Geneva Smitherman, College of Arts & Letters, English and co-founder of the African American and African Studies doctoral program

1990

• David Anderson, College of Arts & Letters, American Thought and Language
• Warren I. Cohen, College of Arts & Letters, History
• Diane Wakoski, College of Arts & Letters, English

For more information on the University Distinguished Professorship, see the Office of the Provost website.

By Kim Popiolek and Austin Curtis