Two engineering faculty members and the dean of the School of Engineering were recognized at an endowed chair investiture ceremony on April 8, 2024. They are among 28 scholars from across Vanderbilt who were honored by Chancellor Daniel Diermeier and Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs C. Cybele Raver.
They are Xenofon Koutsoukos, Thomas R. Walters Chair; Bennett A. Landman, Stevenson Chair #31; and Krishnendu (Krish) Roy, Bruce and Bridgitt Evans Dean’s Chair in Engineering.
“Endowed chairs are the highest honor that a university bestows on a member of the faculty,” Diermeier said. “Across the academy, they signify that these individuals have achieved—by scholarship, research, artistic creation and teaching—the greatest accolades within their fields.”
In his remarks Diermeier acknowledged the donors, several of whom were in attendance, who made the endowed positions possible.
Raver spoke about the goals of endowed chairs: to recognize exceptional accomplishments, deepen investment in this community, and elevate and empower the thought leaders who push the university forward.
“Endowed chairs represent the pinnacle of the university’s standard for thoughtful leadership and the exchange of ideas,” she said. “Receiving an endowed chair is an invitation to keep going. You have not arrived at the end of your growth, but at a new level of potential and support.”