Gerschenkron Gets New Professorship

Alexander Gerschenkron has been appointed the first Walter S. Barker Professor of Economics, Dean Bundy announced yesterday. Gerschenkron, a member of the Faculty since 1948, is an expert on the economy of Soviet Russia.

The professorship is a new one, created under the will of Barker, a Roxbury manufacturer. Barker, who lived in Cambridge, worked with members of the Faculty on economic studies before his death in 1926.

Gerschenkron's work as an economic historian has centerd on the history of industrial development of Europe. A native of Russia, he has published several studies of the U.S.S.R.'s industrial output. Before joining the Faculty, Gerschenkron served on the staff of the Federal Reserve Board in Washington as chief of its Foreign Areas Section.