Baton Rouge Louisiana Advocate

Purdue honors professor at SU
By DONALD LEE
Advocate columnist
June 24, 2006

Kudos to Southern University Professor William E. Moore, who earlier this month had a Purdue University professorship named after him for being the first African American to receive a doctorate from Purdue’s College of Science.

On June 2, the Board of Trustees for Purdue University approved the nomination of Professor Joseph S. Francisco, the first William E. Moore Distinguished Professor of Earth and Atmospheric Science and Chemistry.

Moore said he thought he was dreaming when he received an e-mail from Jeff Vitter, the Frederick L. Hoyde dean of the College of Science at Purdue and brother of U.S. Sen. David Vitter, R-La., asking his permission to have the designated professorship named for him.

“First of all, I had to pinch myself to make sure that this wasn’t a dream,” Moore said. “So I immediately called Dr. Vitter. When I came back to reality, I said to myself: ‘This is really my legacy,’ because that’s what it really meant to me.

“This really defines my legacy,” the 64-year-old Southern professor said. “And the reason I say that is because I am a living part of a major research university while I’m still alive.”

The honor normally is given posthumously. But Francisco has been so inspired by the contributions Moore has made to the world of science and to Purdue University, that no other name for his professorship would do.

“Joe Francisco, who is also African American, is one of the pre-eminent people in the field of atmospheric chemistry, and he was very honored to have the possibility of having his professorship named after Bill Moore,” Vitter said.

“This was a great occasion. Bill was the first Ph.D. African American in our department, and Joe thought this would be an extra-special honor for him to have his professorship named after Bill Moore,”Vitter said.

Moore received his bachelor’s degree from Southern University in 1963 and his doctorate from Purdue in physical biochemistry in 1967. He’s held faculty and administrative positions at Prairie View A&M University, Texas Southern University and at Southern University, where he is a professor of chemistry.

Moore, president of the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers, was invited to lecture to the Pasteur Institute in Paris in 1978. He also was a NATO Fellow in Louvain La Neuve, Belgium, where he studied the use of computers in science education.

As a result of some of his accomplishments in research, Moore was appointed chairman of the General Research Support Review Committee at the National Institutes of Health in 1981.

“I just feel strongly that we have to do more to honor our African-American pioneers,” Francisco said. “I just view Dr. Moore and all that he’s achieved as a real important pioneer. Having this professorship named after him really honors his achievement.”

There’s another reason why Moore is all smiles about having a professorship named for him.

“I knew of (Dr. Francisco) because he has an excellent reputation, but I had never met him personally,” Moore said, adding that their first meeting was on June 2, the day Purdue’s Board of Trustees approved Francisco’s nomination to receiv