Dr. John Dunaway, professor of French and interdisciplinary studies, has been honored with two national awards. Dunaway, who is also director of Mercer Commons, received the 2007 Jacques Maritain Award and was one of two recipients of the 2007 Erik B. Nilson Achievement Award and Grant.

The Nilson Achievement Award is given by the Faculty Commons, which was formerly known as Christian Leadership Ministries, the faculty ministry of the Campus Crusade for Christ organization. The award is given each year to a professor who has made a significant contribution to the cause of Christ at an American university. The award is accompanied by a $1,000 grant for use in the campus’ faculty ministry. Dunaway was presented with the award on Aug. 28 at an open meeting of Mercer’s Faculty/Staff Christian Fellowship, of which he has served as founding president since 1997.

The American Maritain Association presented Dunaway with the Jacques Maritain Award on Oct. 27 during the annual conference held at the University of Notre Dame. The award is presented to a scholar who has made outstanding contributions to the study of Maritain’s philosophy. Dunaway has published books and articles on Maritain, and he served as an officer of the Association, including having chaired its annual conference in 2001.

Considered the 20th century’s greatest Catholic philosopher, Frenchman Jacques Maritain lived in the United States for nearly two decades and taught at such institutions as University of Chicago, Notre Dame and Princeton. He was also French President Charles de Gaulle’s ambassador to the Vatican from 1945 to 1948. At the conclusion of the Second Vatican Council in 1966, Pope Paul VI addressed a message to the intellectuals of the world through Maritain and publicly embraced him in Saint Peter’s Square.