Following a series of national searches, the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts has named three new school chairs. Each appointment is effective on August 1.

Russian scholar Dina Khapaeva will oversee the School of Modern Languages. She specializes in Russian literature and culture and will strengthen Georgia Tech’s study track in Russian - one of the critical languages identified by the U.S. Department of State. Khapaeva is currently a researcher at Helsinki Collegium at the University of Helsinki.

David Laband, professor and director of graduate programs at Auburn University, will chair the School of Economics. Laband has focused on building the Ph.D. program and heads the department’s capital campaign. He is well known in the field of economics and is an applied micro-economist. Laband’s widely cited research includes substantial work in environmental economics, labor economics and micro-economic analysis.

Richard Utz has been named chair of Literature, Communication and Culture. Utz is an established interdisciplinary scholar of medieval culture and its reception in postmedieval times. His work spans literature, philology, philosophy and the history of humanistic inquiry. Utz joins Georgia Tech after recently completing a four-year term as chair of the Department of English at Western Michigan University.

“We are extremely pleased to have these individuals, all of whom are top scholars and administrators in their fields, join the college,” said Jacqueline Royster, dean of Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts. “The appointments mark a new decade of leadership for these schools. I am confident that they will further our momentum in knowledge creation, innovation and problem solving at the intersection of the humanities, social sciences and technology.”

Visit here to read more about each new chair.