Joseph LaPalombara honored with ASILM Medal of Excellence

April 3, 2017

Koerner fellow Joseph LaPalombara received a Medal of Excellence from the American Society of the Italian Legions of Merit during its annual meeting in New York last month. The society, which operates under the patronage of the President of the Italian Republic, “serves as the chief reference point in the United States for all links between the chivalric world of the Italian state and its ‘decorati’ residents here.” The medal recognizes Professor LaPalombara’s years of scholarly writing about Italian politics, which include four books, scores of journal articles and book chapters, as well as his diplomatic service in Italy between 1980-1981 as First Secretary of the Embassy in Rome and his years as editor-in-chief of the magazine, Italy. Professor LaPalombara was also a founding member of the Italian Social Science Council, a trustee of the American Academy in Rome, and a visiting professor at the University of Florence, the University of Bergamo, the Free University of Social Sciences, and the John Cabot University.

Professor LaPalombara is the Arnold Wolfers Professor Emeritus of Political Science and Management and a Senior Research Scholar in the Center for Comparative Research. He is a member of the American and the Connecticut Academies of Arts and Sciences and has held fellowships from the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Guggenheim, Rockefeller and Ford Foundations, the Twentieth Century Fund, the Social Science Research Council, and the Fulbright Program. In addition to his medal of honor from the Presidency of the Italian Republic, he holds a medal from the Italian Constitutional Court. LaPalombara is currently secretary of the Center for American Studies in Rome and serves on the board of the Aspen Institute Italia. He is also editor-in-chief of the magazine, Italy, editor of the Journal of International Business Education, and serves as a member of the editorial boards of several scientific journals. His current research is focused on the relationship between public policies, global corporations, and the flow of foreign direct investment to less-developed countries. During LaPalombara’s first year at Yale, he was named a Knight in the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic and was awarded the Commendatore title ten years later.