Philip C. Davis, recipient of the Catherine Heller Distinguished Professorship of Art since 1983, will retire from active faculty status as of May 31, 1986, after a prodigious career as artist, teacher, author, and researcher. Professor Davis studied advertising design and photography at Albright Art School in Buffalo, New York, and received a certificate in 1948.

Joining The University of Michigan faculty in 1948, Professor Davis also taught at Ohio State University, California State University at Long Beach, and University of California at Berkeley. During his tenure at the School of Art, Professor Davis served as a diligent and dedicated member of many committees, including the Executive Committee, the Graduate Committee, and the Scholarship Committee.

A photographer from 1952-76, he dealt with major agencies and clients in Detroit and Chicago, including General Motors Corporation, Ford Motor Company, Chrysler-Marine, Firestone, and many others. As an author, his continuing list of publications includes many articles in major photographic journals. Take Photography Step By Step; Photography, now in its fifth edition (1986); and Beyond the Zone System, also authored by Davis, are leading textbooks in the field.

He has participated in several one-man exhibitions and numerous group and invitational shows. His work is represented in the permanent collections of the Detroit Institute of Art, Chicago Art Institute Museum, and The International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House, Rochester, New York. A photographic and poetic essay, "Dexter Portfolio," was acquired for the permanent collection for the Museum of Modem Art. Twice a Rackham grant recipient, Professor Davis received grants for the investigation of historic photographic processes; and non-silver processes, photogravure and collotype.

The Regents now acknowledge the contributions of Philip C. Davis, distinguished teacher, author and photographer, by naming him Professor Emeritus of Art.