Melick to hold chair honoring Bruce Gensemer

Kenyon has received a gift of $1.5 million to establish a new endowed chair honoring emeritus economics professor Bruce Gensemer. The first incumbent of the chair, called the Bruce L. Gensemer Professorship in Economics, will be Associate Professor of Economics William Melick.

The gift was made by John C. Riazzi '85 of Dayton, Ohio, the chief executive officer of Transamerica Investment Management, LLC. "Bruce Gensemer sees talents in his students that they don't see in themselves," says Riazzi, who was an economics major. "He carefully nurtures those talents."

Gensemer taught at the College from 1966 until he retired in 2002. A specialist in public economics and other areas, he became a noted expert on school-financing issues.

"We are profoundly appreciative of this extraordinary gift, which provides moving testimony to the ways in which our finest teachers help to shape their students' lives," says President S. Georgia Nugent.

Melick, a Kenyon faculty member since 1998, says he is flattered to have been chosen as the first incumbent of the chair. "John Riazzi's incredible generosity is a great testament to Bruce's dedication to teaching," says Melick, a popular professor and active scholar who was a research economist for the Federal Reserve System before coming to the College. In 2001-02, Melick served as a senior international economist with the President's Council of Economic Advisers.