Three faculty members named to endowed chair

January 21, 2000
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ANN ARBOR—Three University of Michigan faculty members were named to endowed professorships by the U-M Regents at their Jan. 20-21 meeting.

George J. Brewer, professor of human genetics and of internal medicine, will hold the Morton S. and Henrietta K. Sellner Professorship of Human Genetics, effective Feb. 1.

Annemarie Sullivan Palincsar, professor of <AHREF=”http://www.soe.umich.edu/”>education, will hold the Jean and Charles R. Walgreen Jr. Professorship of reading and Literacy, effective Jan. 1.

Panos Y. Papalambros, professor of mechanical engineering, will hold the Donald G. Graham Professorship of Engineering, effective Jan. 1.

“Dr. Brewer has been a distinguished member of the U-M faculty since 1965,” said Allen S. Lichter, dean of the Medical School. “The Sellner professorship was established, through a generous gift from the Sellner family and is intended to support research efforts in genetic diseases, particularly Wilson’s Disease. The Sellner family made this gift in recognition of Dr. Brewer’s care of their son, Ascher Sellner, M.D., and of Dr. Brewer’s persistent efforts to develop a safe and effective therapy for Wilson’s Disease. This appointment will serve to recognize Dr. Brewer’s clinical research efforts, as well as his numerous contributions to the Medical School, the University, and to the scientific community at large.”

Palincsar, who joined the U-M faculty in 1989, was named associate dean of the School of Education in 1998. “Since her arrival at the U-M, Dr. Palincsar has received the Raymond B. Cattell Early Career Award for Programmatic Research from the American Educational Research Association (1991) and was named a Fellow in the International Academy for Research in Learning Disabilities (1992),” said Karen Wixson, dean of the School of Education. “During her tenure at Michigan State University, she received the Michigan State Teacher-Scholar Award (1985-86), the Michigan State Woman Achiever Award (1985-86), and the Early Contribution Award (from the American Psychological Association, 1988).”

Papalambros, who joined the U-M faculty in 1979, has “an outstanding record as a teacher and developer of curricular innovations and was the founding director of his department’s Design Laboratory,” said Stephen W. Director, dean of the College of Engineering. “He has supervised 19 doctoral dissertations and numerous undergraduate and graduate design team projects. These activities have resulted in his receiving awards for the excellence of his teaching and student mentoring. His research interests are in design methodology and optimization and in applications of operations research and artificial intelligence to design. He has an extensive publication record and multiple external sponsors of his research.”

RegentsGeorge J. BrewerAnnemarie Sullivan PalincsareducationPanos Y. PapalambrosAllen S. LichterAmerican Educational Research Association