Meet The Director
Dr. J. Richard AronsonWilliam L. Clayton Professor of Business and Economics |
Dr. J. Richard Aronson joined the Lehigh University faculty as assistant professor of economics in 1965. He was promoted to associate professor in 1968 and full professor in 1972. He was appointed director of the Martindale Center for the Study of Private Enterprise in 1980.
Dr. Aronson has received four Lehigh teaching awards. They include the Lehigh University Award, formerly the Lindback Foundation Award, in 1968 for distinguished teaching by a junior faculty member; the Stabler Award in 1974 for demonstrating mastery of his field and superior ability in communicating it to others; and the Deming Lewis Faculty Award in 1984, given by the class of 1974 during their 10-year reunion celebration to the faculty member who most significantly influenced their educational experience and the Beta Gamma Sigma Award presented by the Business Honorary Society. He has also won the Hillman Award for service to the University and the Libsch Award for research.
Prior to joining the Lehigh faculty, he was assistant professor of economics at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. In 1973 he was a visiting scholar at the Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of York, England, and in both 1978 and 1996 he was selected as a Fulbright Research Scholar to the United Kingdom.
A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., he received the B.A. degree from Clark University, the M.A. from Stanford University, and the Ph.D. from Clark. He received special honors in economics while at Clark, and was a Rockefeller Fellow at Stanford.
Specializing in public finance, Dr. Aronson is listed in “Who’s Who in America” and “American Men of Science.” He has written many articles in his field of specialization which have appeared in journals such as the Journal of Finance, National Tax Journal, Economic Journal, and Journal of Economic Literature.
He is also co-editor of “Management Policies in Local Government Finance,” published by the International City Management Association (ICMA) in 1996, and co-author of “Financing State and Local Governments,” published by the Bookings Institution in 1985.
He is a member of the American Economic Association, American Finance Association, the National Tax Association, the Royal Economic Society and also a member of the Pennsylvania Employee-Pension Commission, appointed by Governor Thornburgh.