Katherine Fennelly, professor of public affairs at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, has been named the 2006–2007 Fesler-Lampert Chair in Urban and Regional Affairs. Fennelly’s appointment was made by the dean of the Graduate School, Gail Dubrow, based on recommendations from CURA’s nominating committee.
 The Fesler-Lampert Chair in Urban and Regional Affairs is one of four endowed chairs and two named professorships made possible through a generous contribution to the University of Minnesota by David and Elizabeth Fesler. The Fesler-Lampert Endowment in Interdisciplinary and Graduate Studies was initially established in 1985 to stimulate interdisciplinary research and teaching through the appointment of distinguished, broadly learned scholars to endowed faculty positions at the University of Minnesota.
CURA director Tom Scott praised Fennelly’s selection, noting that “in many ways, she has been a pioneer in studying recent immigrant populations in Minnesota, particularly Spanishspeaking immigrants” and that she “has worked successfully in the mostly rural and smaller Greater Minnesota communities that are experiencing rapid growth in immigrant populations.”
Fennelly’s research has encompassed a broad range of issues, from rural poverty and adolescent intervention strategies to immigrant health issues and the needs of migrant workers. During the last decade, she has served as head of the Department of Agricultural and Extension Education at Pennsylvania State University, dean and director of the University of Minnesota Extension Service, and Willy Brandt Professor of International Migration and Ethnic Relations at the University of Malmö in Sweden. In addition to her teaching and research activities, Fennelly also serves on the advisory committees of a number of research, education, and advocacy organizations, including Hispanic Advocacy and Community Empowerment through Research (HACER), the Center for Cross- Cultural Health, the Minnesota Population Center, and the Public Broadcasting Service’s The New Americans series.
Fennelly plans to use the resources provided by her appointment to conduct a statewide census of “diversity coalitions”— organizations that have been established to help recent immigrants integrate into the rural and suburban communities where many of them work and live. The project will focus on the organizations’ objectives, accomplishments, and levels of inclusivity, and will culminate with a series of reports and a networking conference. Ultimately, Fennelly hopes to stimulate communities to critically examine the makeup, power structures, purposes, and expected outcomes of diversity coalitions, and to promote regional collaborations and communications among them.
Katherine Fennelly joins a distinguished list of University faculty who have held the Fesler-Lampert Chair in recent years, including Myron Orfield of the School of Law; Ann Markusen of the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs; Patrick Brezonik of the Department of Civil Engineering; Eugene Borgida of the Department of Psychology; Dennis Ahlburg, formerly of the Department of Industrial Relations and now dean of the University of Colorado School of Business; and John Adams of the Department of Geography.
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 $36,000 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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