Dr. John Peter Kenney, Saint Michael's College professor of religious studies, earned the top Saint Michael's scholarship award, the Scholarship & Artistic Achievement Award, for 2008, as selected by his faculty colleagues and presented at the Academic Convocation January 23 in the McCarthy Arts Center on the college campus. This year's convocation was dedicated to the memory of the late Emeritus Professor of English, Dr. John Reiss.
Last year's scholarship award winner Dr. David Mindich, professor of journalism and mass communication, read the citation announcing Professor Kenney, as "one of the world's leading experts on the interface between Christianity and ancient pagan philosophical thought."
The citation acknowledged Dr. Kenney's ten years of service as Dean of the College, during which he "tirelessly promoted high standards of scholarship for all Saint Michael's faculty." His own substantial record of publications included two books when he arrived at Saint Michael's from Reed College, as well as his 2005 book, The Mysticism of Saint Augustine: Re-Reading the Confessions, published by Routledge.
The citation reads, "It is not hyperbole to say that this book has caused a sensation in the community of scholars. A reviewer in the Journal of Early Christian Studies wrote, 'It is above all else a calm, measured, and wise book, one that makes arguments but never becomes argumentative; and it is written with great restraint and lucidity.'"
Professor Kenney was praised for his outstanding scholarship and for remaining throughout his career, "first and foremost a teacher and mentor to countless students, some of whom have gone on to pursue careers in the field of religious studies."
Professor Kenney and his wife Anne Jason Kenney, a librarian at Rice Memorial High School, reside in Shelburne. They have two children, Madeleine and John, who is a student at Saint Michael's.
Saint Michael's College, founded in 1904 by the Society of St. Edmund and headed by President John J. Neuhauser, is identified by the Princeton Review as one of the nation's Best 368 Colleges. A liberal arts, residential, Catholic college, Saint Michael's is located just outside of Burlington, Vermont, one of America's top college towns and less than two hours from Montreal. As one of only 270 institutions nationwide with a prestigious Phi Beta Kappa chapter on campus, Saint Michael's has 2,000 full-time undergraduate students, some 500 graduate students and 200 international students. In recent years Saint Michael's students and professors have received Rhodes, Woodrow Wilson, Guggenheim, Fulbright, National Science Foundation and other grants, and Saint Michael's professors have been named Vermont Professor of the Year in four of the last eight years. The college is currently listed as one of the nation's Best Liberal Arts Colleges in the 2009 U.S. News & World Report rankings.