I now expect to be the Arthur Bellow-Goode Distinguished Chair in Funny Book Studies someday.
By Rob Farley might not have been born to burgle, but perhaps what we study influences what endowed chair we earn. Consider the curious case of Dr. Ed Diener:
Professor Diener is listed as one of the most highly cited psychologists by the Institute of Scientific Information, with over 12,000 citations to his credit … [His] research focuses on the measurement of well-being; temperament and personality influences on well-being; theories of well-being; income and well-being; and cultural influences on well-being. He has edited three recent books on subjective well-being, and a 2005 book on multi-method measurement in psychology. Diener is currently writing a popular book on happiness …
What endowed chair does this expert in psychological metrics of happiness hold?
Ed Diener is the Joseph R. Smiley Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of Illinois.
Of course he is.*
*I’m sure this joke has been beaten into the ground in the circles in which Diener runs, but those circles are neither these circles nor my circles.