"Jim Otteson" Archive

New Presidential Chairs named in College, School of Law

Wake Forest University has named its two newest Presidential Chairs: Alan Palmiter as the William T. Wilson, III, Presidential Chair for Business Law and Koleman Strumpf as the Burchfield Presidential Chair of Political Economy.

Alan Palmiter

Palmiter has an international reputation as a teacher and scholar in business law, including corporate law, securities regulation, mergers and acquisitions, sustainable corporations, energy law and legal valuation. Since joining the School of Law faculty in 1986, he has held dozens of leadership roles on campus, such as Associate Dean of Graduate Programs, Howard L. Oleck Professor of Business Law; Center for Energy, Environment and Sustainability (CEES) advisory board member; and Wake Forest Law Review faculty advisor. Frequently cited in national media, Palmiter recently has been in the midst of the scholarly debate of the corporation from private entity to government substitute, with a current focus on the moral obligations of the shift in roles.

“How delighted we all are to recognize Alan’s singular contributions as participant in the debates on business and society, as devoted community, university and law school servant, and as teacher par excellence,” said Dean of Law Suzanne Reynolds.

Koleman Strumpf

Strumpf joined the Department of Economics earlier this month, having come to Wake Forest most recently from the University of Kansas School of Business. Strumpf’s most recent work focuses on file sharing (the economic impact on the entertainment industries), prediction markets (election futures, corporate applications), and industrial organization (formal evidence of first degree price discrimination in the real world). His research has received extensive media coverage in major news outlets such as CNN, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Financial Times and The Atlantic.

“I am pleased to welcome Koleman to Wake Forest because he embodies the teacher-scholar ideal we value so much. His outstanding scholarship in applied microeconomics is a terrific complement to the excellent body of work already underway in our Department of Economics,” said Dean of the College Michele Gillespie.

So far, the Wake Will Lead campaign has raised more than $70 million to recruit and retain best-in-class faculty, including the creation of 10 Presidential chairs for faculty who are exceptional researchers in their field as well as dedicated teachers.

Palmiter and Strumpf’s respective appointments to the Wilson and Burchfield Presidential Chairs mean six of the 10 have been named, including:

  • The Rubin Presidential Chair of Jewish History – established by Mike (MALS ’13) and Debbie (MAEd ’83, MALS ’05) Rubin of Winston-Salem. Debbie, a University Trustee, has worked as a counselor in the University Counseling Center for several years; held by Professor Barry Trachtenberg, Department of History.
  • The Andrew Sabin Family Foundation Presidential Chair in Conservation Biology – established through the family foundation of Wake Forest parent Andrew Sabin (P ‘17) to support environmental programs around the world; held by Professor Miles Silman, Department of Biology.
  • The Thomas W. Smith Foundation Presidential Chair in Business Ethics – supports a faculty member committed to the exploration of the relationship between business, government and society; held by Jim Otteson, Department of Economics.
  • The Inmar Presidential Chair of Analytics at the School of Business – established by the Winston-Salem-based company that is known for operating intelligent commerce networks; held by Jeffrey Camm, School of Business.

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Presidential Chairs support, retain outstanding faculty

A Wake Forest Presidential Chair supports recruiting and retaining faculty who are both outstanding researchers in their field as well as dedicated teachers.

President Nathan Hatch announced the Presidential Chair initiative in 2012 – an initiative made possible through Wake Will: The Campaign for Wake Forest. The initial goal to establish 10 chairs has been met.

“An endowed chair is an enduring tribute to the person who established it and is the highest academic award that can be bestowed on a faculty member,” Hatch said. “Our Presidential Chair program seeks to reward, retain and recruit those teacher-scholars who most embody the ideals that Wake Forest has for faculty: brilliant and committed scholars who have a profound ability and commitment to teach and mentor students.”

For the first $1 million donated to each Presidential Chair, the University matches those funds to provide additional support for faculty. Four of the 10 chairs have been named to faculty.

  • The Rubin Chair of Jewish and Israeli Studies – established by Mike (MALS ’13) and Debbie (MAEd ’83, MALS ’05) Rubin of Winston-Salem. Debbie, a trustee, worked as a counselor in the University Counseling Center for several years; held by Professor Barry Trachtenberg, department of History.
  • The Andrew Sabin Family Foundation Presidential Chair in Conservation Biology – established through the family foundation of Wake Forest parent Andrew Sabin (P ‘17) to support environmental programs around the world; held by Professor Miles Silman, department of Biology.
  • The Thomas W. Smith Foundation Presidential Chair in Business Ethics – supports a faculty member committed to the exploration of the relationship between business, government and society; held by Jim Otteson, executive director of the BB&T Center for the Study of Capitalism, School of Business.
  • The Inmar Presidential Chair of Analytics at the School of Business – established by the Winston-Salem-based company that is known for operating intelligent commerce networks; held by Jeffrey Camm, Associate Dean of Business Analytics, School of Business
  • The Donna A. Boswell Presidential Chair of Health Care Innovation – established by Boswell (’72, MA ’74), a university trustee, to promote teaching and scholarship that fosters a more comprehensive understanding of the political and economic factors that promote innovation in health care and health care delivery.
  • The David C. Darnell Presidential Chair in Principled Leadership – established by Bank of America as a retirement gift to Darnell following a 36-year career.
  • The William T. Wilson, III, Presidential Chair for Business Law – established by Wilson, a 1980 law school graduate who is a local attorney best known for his work in commercial real estate.
  • The Katherine and Dickerson Wright Presidential Chair in Computer Science and Entrepreneurship – established by Wake Forest parents who were founding partners of the Office of Personal and Career Development. Kathy, a University Trustee, serves on the Wake Will Campaign CORE Committee and the Wake Will Campaign California Bay Area Regional Committee.
  • The Burchfield Presidential Chair of Political Economy – established by Bobby Burchfield (’76), a former vice chair of the board of trustees and a prominent Washington, D.C., attorney
  • The Larry J. and LeeAnn Merlo Presidential Chair for Communications and Entrepreneurship – established by the Merlos, Wake Forest parents. As president and CEO of CVS Health, Larry has taken strong steps in his organization’s commitment to public health.

WFU receives $4.2 million to further study of human flourishing

Today Wake Forest University announced nearly $4.2 million in new research funding to further the study of human flourishing through the Eudaimonia Institute. Eudaimonia (yoo-dye-mo-NEE-uh) is Aristotle’s term for “flourishing.”

Established earlier this summer, the Eudaimonia Institute’s mission is to study the nature of human flourishing, as well as the institutions, attitudes and cultural practices that encourage it. An interdisciplinary intellectual community of scholars will explore the concept beyond the typical scope of how happiness is understood or used in everyday conversation.

Jim Otteson, Executive Director of the Eudaimonia Institute, says he expects the institute will put forth the first call for research proposals later this year.

An independent Faculty Advisory Board of a dozen faculty members from across the University – including those from the humanities, social sciences, business, law and divinity – will evaluate the proposals, following standard University practices. They anticipate the research proposals they receive will be as wide-ranging as the scholarly interests at Wake Forest.

“If we are talking about a society that is not only diverse but also aspires to be inclusive, we should expect diverse views,” said Simeon Ilesanmi, Washington M. Wingate Professor of Religion and Eudaimonia Institute Faculty Advisory Board member.

Ilesanmi continued, “My training is in religious ethics and law. These are two disciplines that also explore the kinds of topics that the Eudaimonia Institute will consider – looking at the kind of society we ought to live in and the institutions that can promote human flourishing. What are the values society should invest its resources in and what impacts will those have on our lives? How do we account for the presence and distribution of well-being? I think the University is a proper place to explore various ideas and metaphors that constitute the complex significations of human flourishing or the highest good.”

“The Eudaimonia Institute presents a great opportunity to take us back to questions that are at the core of the liberal arts. When we think about the liberal arts historically, we often think about a broad education that prepares us to grapple with big questions about human life and how we interact with and relate to each other,” said Eudaimonia Institute Faculty Advisory Board member Ana Iltis, Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Center for Bioethics, Health and Society.

“Wake Forest now has a very concrete way to support teacher-scholars who seek to explore those questions. We’re always talking about interdisciplinary work and cross-disciplinary work. The Eudaimonia Institute offers us another opportunity to partner with each other across disciplines to pursue meaningful work,” Iltis said.

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