What: New Fesler-Lampert chair named

Who: Dennis Ahlburg, professor of human resources and industrial relations

Contact: Mike Greco, Communications Coordinator, CURA, 612-625-7501, curaweb@umn.edu

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (10/1/2001) -- Dennis Ahlburg, professor of human resources and industrial relations in the Carlson School of Management’s Industrial Relations Center, has been named to the Fesler-Lampert Chair in Urban and Regional Affairs for 2001-2002. Ahlburg’s appointment, which was announced this past June, was made by Dean of the Graduate School and Vice President for Research Christine Maziar, based on recommendations from the Center of Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA).

Dennis Ahlburg

“I am honored to be awarded the chair after its first holder, John Adams,” Ahlburg said. “I think CURA has done an outstanding job of supporting research on critical public policy issues facing Minnesota. Much of the work done in urban and regional affairs affects us directly, and these are the kinds of issues too often overlooked.” The Fesler-Lampert Chair, he said, “brings recognition within the university that these issues are important.”

The Fesler-Lampert Chair in Urban and Regional Affairs is one of four endowed chairs and two named professorships made possible through a contribution to the University of Minnesota by David R. and Elizabeth P. Fesler. The Fesler-Lampert Endowment in Interdisciplinary and Graduate Studies was initially established in 1985 through a $1 million grant from the David R. Fesler Fund of the Saint Paul Foundation, Inc. The gift was matched by a $1 million allocation from the Permanent University Fund, and the combined endowment and matching funds have now grown in value to more than $9.5 million. The endowment is intended to stimulate interdisciplinary research and teaching through the appointment of distinguished, broadly learned scholars to endowed faculty positions at the University of Minnesota.

Ahlburg has taught at the University of Minnesota for more than 20 years. He received a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Sydney and his master’s degree in economics from the Australian National University before completing a doctorate in economics at the University of Pennsylvania in 1979. He took a position as a lecturer in economics at Swarthmore College before coming to the University of Minnesota in 1980 as assistant professor in the department of industrial relations. Ahlburg has been a visiting professor or research fellow at numerous universities and policy centers around the world, including the Australian National University’s National Center for Development Studies, the East-West Center’s Program on Population, the department of social statistics at the University of Southampton (U.K.), and the University of Minnesota’s Center on Aging and Center for Population Analysis and Policy.

The Fesler-Lampert Endowment is intended as a tribute to David Fesler’s grandfathers, Bert Fesler and Jacob Lampert. The Fesler-Lampert Chair in Urban and Regional Affairs is appointed for a one-year period and receives approximately $55,000 for research, salary and logistical support. The funds are jointly administered by the University of Minnesota Foundation and the University of Minnesota.

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