 Honors in economics: (l-r) Department head Dick Arnould with faculty honorees Roger Koenker and John Due, and econometrician George Judge. |
 Finance faculty members Charles Kahn (center) and Josef Lakonishok (r) received their honors from department chair Morgan Lynge. |
 Carol Sudman accepted honors for her father, the late Seymour Sudman, from department head Huseyin Leblebici (far left). Also honored in business administration were (from left) Greg Oldham, Kent Monroe, and Howard Thomas. |
Held on May 4, in Foellinger Auditorium on the Illinois campus, the event offered retrospective recognition to incumbent and past holders of named chairs and professorships in business administration, economics, and finance. Eight faculty members were honored in the ceremony, though only seven were present to accept — a shadow cast by the loss of one of their number, just two days before.
The event was the third in a series of investitures recognizing the achievements of the holders of endowed chairs and professorships at CBA, as well as the donors who support them. On hand to honor the recipients, before an audience composed of family members and college faculty and staff, were University Chancellor Michael Aiken, Dean Howard Thomas (also invested), Associate Dean Fred Neumann, and department heads and chairs, Huseyin Leblebici, Dick Arnould, and Morgan Lynge, who, respectively, lead the departments of Business Administration, Economics, and Finance. Neumann, who made the opening remarks, invoked the words of the great French scholar Montaigne: "We should not ask who is the most learned, but who is the best learned." Chancellor Aiken described the ceremony's worthy purpose thus: "To tell the world's academic community that our faculty are prominent in their fields and that that prominence is recognized and appreciated by this institution."
Accomplishments of each honoree were recognized with a short address by their respective department head or chair — with the notable exceptions of Roger Koenker, whose good friend and distinguished colleague, economist George Judge, arrived from the University of California at Berkeley to do the honors; and Howard Thomas, whose tenure as Commerce dean and faculty member ends with his imminent departure for a new job in England, and who was recognized with remarks by Chancellor Aiken.
And it was with fresh grief and bittersweet pride that the memory of Seymour Sudman, who died on May 2, was invoked throughout the proceedings, most particularly when the moment came for his investiture. "I know that he is here in spirit," remarked Leblebici, in a certain echo of the unspoken feelings experienced by many in the crowd that day. As Sudman's family looked on, his medallion was accepted by his daughter Carol.
Launched in
1998 by Illinois alumnus Fred Currier (AM Economics 1949, BA History 1948),
this fellowship supports University of Illinois doctoral students in the area
of survey research. A member of the economics faculty at Illinois, Robert Ferber
was noted for his pioneering work in marketing, particularly survey research.
Currier, a prominent market researcher who worked with Ferber in the `70s on
the Census Advisory Board, was so impressed by the professor's vision, integrity,
and honesty, that he went on to fund the 