Three UNC Professors Honored With Lambeth Chair

Posted on April 29, 2013

Three professors with expertise in public policy, social work and government at UNC have been awarded the 2013 Thomas Willis Lambeth Distinguished Chair in Public Policy.

The recipients are Daniel Gitterman, associate professor of public policy; Gary Nelson, professor in the School of Social Work; and Aimee Wall ’97 (JD), associate professor of public law and government in the School of Government.

Gitterman is an associate professor and director of graduate studies in public policy at UNC. He also serves as director of the Honors Carolina Burch Field Research Seminar in Washington, D.C. Gitterman has received fellowships from the Institute of Arts and Humanities (Academic Leadership Program) and the Global Research Institute (inaugural program on Globalization, the Economic Crisis and the Future of North Carolina). He is a recipient of the Tanner Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching and the John L. Sanders Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching and Service. In 2013, he was inducted into the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, one of North Carolina’s highest honors.

Besides being a professor, Nelson is the associate director for program development and training in the school’s Jordan Institute for Families. His interests include public engagement research, education and service. His public-engagement activities center on leadership development, organizational and community change, social entrepreneurship and sustainable development, and individual and collective processes of self-evaluation. These commitments are designed to help citizens reconnect to and revitalize their social institutions, communities, families and personal lives.

Wall, who also received a master’s in public health from UNC in 1998, coordinates the School of Government’s educational programs for new North Carolina legislators and legislative staff. She serves as the school’s faculty liaison with legislators and other state-level policymakers. Her research focuses on various aspects of human services law, including public assistance programs; abuse and financial exploitation of the elderly; public guardianship; and the organization, administration and governance of local human services agencies. She also conducts research on the laws governing city and county animal control programs.

Gitterman, Nelson and Wall will begin their five-year chair on July 1.

The Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation in Winston-Salem established the five-year chair to honor the retirement of Tom Lambeth ’57 of Winston-Salem, who served as executive director of the foundation from 1978 until 2001.

A native of Clayton, Lambeth served in the Army and was a journalist at the Winston-Salem State Journal before joining the staff of Gov. Terry Sanford ’39. From 1965 to 1969, he was an administrator at the Smith Richardson Foundation in Greensboro, and from 1969 to 1978, he worked for U.S. Rep. Richardson Preyer. Lambeth is chair of the GAA’s Tar Heel Network, which supports the University’s goals and priorities through advocacy with legislators.

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