Colleges of Arts and Sciences name Dai Ho Chun Distinguished Chair

Alison Rieser to serve joint appointment in departments of economics and geography

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Contact:
Arikka Johnson, (808) 956-5790
Colleges of Arts and Sciences
Posted: Feb 2, 2006

HONOLULU — Thomas Bingham, Richard Dubanoski, Charles F. Hayes, and Joseph O‘Mealy, deans of the Colleges of Arts and Sciences, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, are pleased to announce that Alison Rieser, JD, LLM, will serve as the Dai Ho Chun Distinguished Chair in the Colleges Arts and Sciences.

Rieser comes to the UH Mānoa from the University of Maine School of Law. Since 1993, she oversaw legal and public policy research on fisheries, ocean pollution, coastal land use, and international maritime relations. As the Dai Ho Chun Distinguished Chair, she will serve a joint appointment in the departments of economics and geography from January 1, 2006 to June 30, 2008.

The Dai Ho Chun Distinguished Chair in the Colleges of Arts and Sciences Endowment was made possible by the late Dr. Dai Ho Chun through an estate gift. Dr. Chun, a visionary educator, designed the chair to support interdisciplinary collaboration. According to his guidelines, appointees must be excellent researchers and teachers, have the ability to integrate theory with creative applications, and draw from historical and contemporary perspectives, as well as provide multicultural analysis.

"Professor Rieser is a world-class scholar whose expertise in marine law and ocean policy is extremely important for Hawaiʻi and the Asia Pacific region," said Richard Dubanoski, Dean of the College of Social Sciences, of which economics and geography are a part of. "We look forward to her sharing her talents and knowledge throughout our campus and community."

Rieser is a specialist in marine conservation law, property rights management regimes, and ecosystem-based approaches to fisheries management. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in human ecology from Cornell University, her JD from George Washington University Law School, and her LLM from Yale Law School. Besides contributing to a long list of publications, she has been a prestigious Pew Fellow, and has served in many leadership positions on issues such as international whaling, oil spill preparedness, and aquaculture, on both local and national levels.

"I'm delighted to have the opportunity to work with such a diverse group of scholars and teachers," said Reiser of her appointment. "It's a unique opportunity to use all aspects of ocean policy, from the legal and scientific, to the ethical and historical, to educate students and promote greater wisdom in humanity's relationship to the Earth. I can't think of a better place to do so than in the middle of the planet's largest ocean, in a community where both traditional knowledge and cutting-edge science are revered."