New group of endowed chairs celebrated

by David Salisbury | Posted on Thursday, Nov. 10, 2011 — 6:18 PM

Front row seated (left to right): Jonathan Metzl, David Piston, David Kosson, Arthur Fleischer and J.B. Ruhl. Back row standing (left to right): Richard McCarty, Sohee Park, Wael El-Rifai, Sankaran Mahadevan, Anita Mahadevan-Jansen, Kenneth Catania, Larry Isaac and Jeff Balser. (Tommy Lawson / Vanderbilt)

The outstanding academic achievements of 11 faculty members who have been named to endowed chairs were praised Nov. 7 during a celebration at the Student Life Center.

“We’ve been conducting these ceremonies for about a year now. Some of you will recall that the chancellor in his fall faculty convocation a year ago announced that we will be announcing 60 endowed chairs over the next few years,” said Jeff Balser, vice chancellor for health affairs and dean of the School of Medicine, who emceed the program with Richard McCarty, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs.

“With this ceremony, we will have done 45 of those 60, so we are well on our way to completing his goal,” Balser said.

“In a season of giving thanks, it is fitting that we take this opportunity to thank the faculty being recognized today for their incredible contributions to the Vanderbilt community, which are broad and far-reaching into society,” he said. “These are individuals who truly provide national and global leadership in their disciplines.”

The celebration marked the fifth in a series of events to honor the contributions of Vanderbilt chair holders.

The new chairs are:

• Kenneth C. Catania, the Stevenson Chair in Biological Sciences
• Wael El-Rifai, the H. William Scott Jr. Chair in Surgery
• Arthur Fleischer, the Cornelius Vanderbilt Chair
• Larry W. Isaac, the Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Chair in Sociology
• David Kosson, the Cornelius Vanderbilt Chair
• Anita Mahadevan-Jansen, the Orrin H. Ingram Chair in Engineering
• Sankaran Mahadevan, the John R. Murray Sr. Chair
• Jonathan Metzl, the Frederick B. Rentschler II Chair
• Sohee Park, the Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Chair in Psychology
• David Piston, the Louise B. McGavock Chair
• J. B. Ruhl, the David Daniels Allen Distinguished Chair of Law

The major university initiative to recruit and retain outstanding scholars and teachers with the news chairs was announced by Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos in August 2010.

Approximately 150 colleagues, friends and family members of the honorees turned out for the ceremony and reception.

Contact:
David Salisbury, (615) 322-NEWS
david.salisbury@vanderbilt.edu