AN INTERNATIONALLY KNOWN PAINTER, Ed Kerns has mounted more than 30 one-person shows in galleries in New York, Philadelphia, and elsewhere, including three shows in the 1990s at M-13 Gallery, New York. He has also participated in more than 150 group exhibitions in United States, Paris, Italy, Switzerland, and Mexico. His work is in numerous public and corporate collections, including those of the Corcoran Gallery, Washington, D.C.; Citicorp Collection; New York, N.Y.; Bass Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami, Fla.; Chase Manhattan Bank Collection, New York, N.Y.; and Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas. It has been reviewed in many journals and magazines.

Kerns, whose interests also include drawing and two-dimensional design, joined the Lafayette faculty in 1980. He was awarded the Clapp Professorship in 1988.

Through EXCEL Scholar research projects, independent studies, and honors projects, he has mentored more than 400 students. Recently, he worked with Chris MIchaud '03 and Ross Gay '96 on a collaborative project using painting, music, and words. Janice Trusezkowski '03 worked as an EXCEL Scholar with him cataloguing and organizing his early work.

Kerns has been the recipient of several major College-wide awards at Lafayette, including the Mary Louise Van Artsdalen Prize for outstanding scholarly achievement (2001), James P. Crawford Award for superior teaching (1996), Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Foundation Award for excellence in teaching and outstanding contributions to campus life (1992), Thomas Roy and Lura Forrest Jones Award for superior teaching and scholarly contribution to his discipline (1987), and the Thomas Roy and Lura Forrest Jones Faculty Lecture Award in recognition of excellence in teaching and scholarship (1985).