From the April 2009 issue of UConn e-Momentum
Republished from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS) Web site
A College of Liberal Arts and Sciences investiture ceremony on April 3 recognized two newly endowed faculty chairs.
Photos of the ceremony are available at the CLAS Web site.
Arnold Dashefsky, professor of sociology, was invested as the Doris and Simon Konover Chair of Judaic Studies. Kathleen Segerson, professor of economics, became the first Philip E. Austin Chair in Economics.
The Philip E. Austin Chair in Economics was established in 2008 in honor of former UConn President Philip E. Austin, who led the University for 11 years beginning in 1996. The endowment supporting the chair was created by prominent donors and leaders who worked closely with President Austin.
Prof. Segerson specializes in environmental and natural resources economics, law and economics, and applied microeconomics. She is a fellow of the American Agricultural Economics Association and a fellow and president of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economics. She serves on the Science Advisory Board of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and recently was a member of the U.S. General Accounting Office's expert panel on climate change economics. She joined the UConn faculty in 1986.
The Doris and Simon Konover Chair of Judaic Studies was endowed by two founding supporters of the Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Life at UConn, Doris and Simon Konover of West Hartford, Conn. Mrs. Konover received her bachelor's degree in 1950 from the UConn School of Nursing, and 
Mr. Konover received an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from the University in 1996. The Konover Chair will support teaching and research by a leading scholar of Jewish life, history and religion.
Its first holder, Arnold Dashefsky, is director of the Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Life at UConn. His research centers on Jewish identity, and his most recent works are a book about charitable giving and a report in interfaith marriage. He is the editor of several books on ethnic identity and contemporary Jewry. He is past president of the Association for the Social Scientific Study of Jewry and is the immediate past secretary-treasurer of the board of directors of the Association for Jewish Studies.
For more information and podcasts by the new chair holders:
Kathleen Segerson:
http://www.clas.uconn.edu/facultysnapshots/view.php?id=segerson
Arnold Dashfefsky:
http://www.clas.uconn.edu/facultysnapshots/view.php?id=dashefsky
