Trinity College has announced the appointment of three new named professorships.
“Today, we celebrate three faculty whose work has earned them this exceptional recognition,” said Sonia Cardenas, vice president for academic affairs and dean of the faculty. “We extend our gratitude to the donors who believed in the power of a Trinity education to endow these professorships.”
Sarah Bilston, Paul E. Raether Distinguished Professor of English
Bilston is a prolific scholar of Victorian literature, a novelist, an award-winning teacher, and an active College citizen. She joined Trinity in 2005, after a lectureship and post-doctoral research fellowship at Yale. She earned her B.A. and M.A. in English literature from University College, University of London, and a M.St. and D.Phil. in English literature from Somerville College, University of Oxford.
Bilston has published three books, The Awkward Age in Women’s Popular Fiction, 1850-1900: Girls and the Transition to Womanhood (Oxford University Press, 2004); The Promise of the Suburbs: A Victorian History in Literature and Culture (Yale University Press, 2019), named a “Choice” Outstanding Academic Title; and The Lost Orchid: A Story of Victorian Plunder & Obsession (Harvard University Press, 2025), earning rave reviews, including a Kirkus Starred Review. She has also published two novels. She received an NEH Fellowship in 2023, and she was awarded Trinity’s Thomas Church Brownell Prize for Teaching Excellence in 2017.
Clayton P. Byers, Donald L. McLagan Associate Professor of Engineering
A member of the faculty since 2018, Byers received his B.S in mechanical engineering from Washington State University, then spent four years in the Air Force as a program manager for the Space and Missile Systems Center. He returned to academia and received his M.A. and Ph.D. from Princeton University in mechanical and aerospace engineering. His work has focused on turbulence, similarity solutions, and novel measurement techniques.
While at Princeton, Byers helped co-found Tendo Technologies, a startup focused on sensor manufacturing and precision flow measurement technology. Since then, he and his colleagues at Tendo have received seven patents for the technology surrounding their work. An active participant in College governance, Byers was awarded Trinity’s Dean Arthur H. Hughes Award for Achievement in Teaching in 2023.
Mark E. Stater, Ward S. Curran Distinguished Professor of Economics
A member of the faculty since 2008, Stater received his B.A. (economics and mathematics), B.S. (mathematics), and Ph.D. (economics) from the University of Oregon. Before coming to Trinity, he taught at the University of Georgia. An applied economist who works on public finance and econometrics, Stater has been prolific in publishing on numerous timely topics, from gender differences in pay to financial aid, and he has served as a referee for numerous journals.
Stater also has served as faculty secretary and a member of several faculty committees at Trinity. In 2011, he received the College’s Dean Arthur H. Hughes Award for Teaching. This professorship was created in honor of Ward S. Curran—Ward S. Curran Distinguished Professor of Economics, Emeritus—a beloved and highly respected professor of economics, who taught corporate finance at Trinity College for 52 years, retiring in 2012.
