To provide two-year professorships to members of the faculty whose talents and accomplishments are of a particularly high order—for example, distinguished teachers, nationally and internationally renowned scholars, and artists with national reputations. The professorships enable the college to retain distinguished faculty who might otherwise be lured away. Nominations are made by department chairpersons and top candidates are chosen by a presidential advisory committee. Recipients are then chosen by the President, in consultation with the Provost and the Board of the Brooklyn College Foundation. Recent Tow professors are from the fields of chemistry, biology, classics, history, anthropology, Africana studies and English.