Denison University will honor three faculty members as new holders of endowed chairs -- Robin Bartlett, Bank One Chair in Economics; Sohrab Behdad, John E. Harris Chair in Economics; and Joan Krone, Benjamin Barney Chair in Mathematics. The University also will recognize other faculty members who hold named chairs at a Common Hour Convocation at noon on Thursday (March 21) in Swasey Chapel. Zaven Karian, current Benjamin Barney Professor of Mathematics, will give an address titled "The Aesthetics of a Number."

Some time ago the Task Force on Named Chairs set criteria for faculty members who are appointed to named chairs. The criteria are: the quality of the faculty member's contributions in scholarship, teaching, and service to their students, the college and their discipline. Named chairs should be model teachers/scholars who have also made substantial contributions to the other purposes of the college.

The Bank One Endowed Professorship in Economics was established in 1993 by a gift from Bank One. Initially targeted at young faculty members, it has since been expanded and has become an endowed chair open to all economics department faculty.

Bartlett joined the Denison faculty in 1973 and has been honored previously as the 1998-1999 "Ohio Professor of the Year" by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). She also was the first internal holder of the University's Laura C. Harris Chair, the 1997 recipient of Denison's Teaching Excellence Award and the 1998 winner of the Henry H. Villard Research Award from the National Council on Economic Education. Bartlett is known for her innovative teaching methods that bring "real world" economic problems to her students. Her classroom simulation programs range from asking students to analyze articles they have clipped from the Wall Street Journal, to a "Forensic Economics" class where students are divided into competing law firms, to "Money and Banking" when students come to class once a month as members of the Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee and make policy recommendations to the Federal Reserve "chair" -- who is not Alan Greenspan, but Prof. Bartlett.

John E. Harris, a California businessman and economic visionary who devised a "World Monetary System," donated assets to Denison in 1957. Following his death in 1959, the assets became the endowment fund for the John E. Harris Chair of Economics and Research in Economics.

Behdad joined the Denison faculty in 1985 after teaching at Tehran University from 1973 to 1984. While there, he also served as director of the Institute of Economic Development Studies and as the chief economic consultant to the Organization for Industrial Development and Renovation (later to become the Ministry of Heavy Industries). A native of Iran, he earned three degrees from Michigan State University, a bachelor's in electrical engineering and his master's and doctorate in economics. Behdad was awarded a Good Fellowship in both 1991 and in 1997 and has also earned research grants from the National Science Foundation, Denison and the Inter-Institutional Collaboration in Area Studies at the University of Michigan. He has had numerous articles published in such journals as the International Journal of Middle East Studies, the Review of Social Economy and the Iranian Economic Review. Behdad is frequently asked to speak on the political and economic situation in the Middle East. He has served as president (1994/95), executive secretary (1990 to 93) and member of the Board of Directors (1988 to present) of the Middle East Economic Association and as co-chair of its Committee on Human Rights and Academic Freedom since 1996.

The Benjamin Barney Chair of Mathematics was endowed by Eliam Barney and the Barney family in honor of Benjamin in the late 1800s. (The Barney family also endowed the Maria Theresa Barney Chair in Philosophy, the first endowed chair at Denison.)

Krone joined the Denison faculty in 1990, having taught previously at Ohio State University and Ohio Dominican College. She has been the recipient of a Joyce Foundation grant, several Denison Research Foundation grants, professional development grants and a Robert Good Research Fellowship. In 1998, Krone received an award from the National Science Foundation to incorporate research into the undergraduate mathematics/computer science curriculum. She has had numerous articles published in professional bulletins and journals and has appeared before her colleagues at such conferences as the Midwest Computing Conference and the Council on Undergraduate Research, and at Ohio State, Bowling Green University, and Wooster in recent years. Krone earned her bachelor's degree at West Liberty State College, two master's degrees from Ohio State (mathematics and computer science) and her doctorate in computer science from Ohio State.

Other Denison faculty that hold named chairs who also will be honored at the convocation are:. David Baker, the Thomas B. Fordham Chair in Creative Writing; Daniel D. Bonar, the George R. Stibitz Distinguished Professorship of Mathematics; Kennard B. Bork, Alumni Chair; Thomas A. Evans, Wickenden Chair of Chemistry; Jon R. Farris, the Jonathan R. Reynolds Distinguished Professorship in Theatre; Desmond M. Hamlet, Lorena Woodrow Burke Chair of English; David O. Woodyard, Charles and Nancy Brickman Distinguished Service Chair; Michael E. Mickelson, the J. Reid Anderson Distinguished Professorship in Physics; Thomas D. Schultz, the Tight Professorship in the Physical Sciences; and Rita Snyder, the Henry Chisholm Chair in the Natural Sciences.

About Denison:

Denison University, founded in 1831, is an independent, residential liberal arts institution located in Granville, Ohio. A highly selective college enrolling 2,100 full-time undergraduate students from all 50 states and dozens of foreign countries, Denison is a place where innovative faculty and motivated students collaborate in rigorous scholarship, civic engagement and the cultivation of independent thinking.

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