2021 Bender of Twigs

Professor David Eichhorn started at Wichita State in 1996 and reached full professor in 2009. He served as an associate dean in the Graduate School from 2005–2008 and then as chair of the Department of Chemistry from 2008–2018. With David's guidance as chair, several hires were made, important promotions were facilitated, and the department grew in numbers and prestige.

David has always supported faculty and students, particularly in their research endeavors. Always helpful in directing his department members toward funding and award opportunities, many benefited from his diligent guidance. His successful leadership at the department level, along with his accumulated experience within the university, made him a natural choice as an associate dean when Andrew Hippisley became dean of Fairmount College. Within the college, David has earned a reputation for professionalism, dependability, responsiveness and collegiality. As Associate Dean, he is a strong advocate of the college's research mission and always ready to support our faculty and students as they pursue funding and recognition for their projects.

You may not know this, but David's father was also a Shocker. While David has been at Wichita State for 25 years, so had his father, Dr. Gunther Eichhorn. Gunther began his official Shocker-hood quite a while before David, serving as WSU's 1983 Watkins Visiting Professor. During his tenure, he presented three talks on campus, two of which were in the chemistry department that David would later lead for 10 years. In 1983, David was still working toward his bachelor's degree at Harvard before pursuing a Ph.D. and a postdoc at Berkeley. His dissertation was titled “Iron and Manganese Complexes of Possible Biological Relevance.” Gunther’s 1983 talk, “The Establishment of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging,” seems like an uncanny foreshadowing. Who at the time could have guessed they were listening to the father of their future department chair?

Like his father, David’s principal role at Wichita State has been that of a teacher. At the graduate level, he has supervised dozens of thesis and dissertation projects (seven Ph.D. and three M.S.), hosted four postdoctoral researchers, and mentored dozens of undergraduate students. David is an author with students and colleagues at WSU, has published 28 peer-reviewed journal articles, and has presented numerous research papers at conferences. His research has earned internal and external funding, and led to the establishment of the department’s X-ray laboratory. His students have gone on to successful careers, including academic appointments.

He continues to be a knowledgeable and rigorous, yet understanding and always helpful mentor. He is popular with majors both as an instructor and a research guide. Within the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, David's judgment and leadership are universally respected and appreciated by students, staff and faculty alike. As the current department chair, I can personally attest to how often I hear, “but David says…” from my colleagues. He has also been a generous mentor to me and is one of the best proofreaders I know—though I’m bracing myself for his markup of this tribute!

In closing, I join the Wichita State family in congratulating David on his 25 years of valuable service and look forward to continuing to work with him to help Wichita State and Fairmount College become even greater.