Alumni and Friends of the Department of Economics,

Every year brings new accomplishments to celebrate, colleagues to congratulate, and transitions to acknowledge. This year has been no exception.

Our department continues to thrive because of the remarkable achievements of its faculty, students, and staff. We celebrated a series of outstanding honors this spring. Charles Manski received the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award, and Joel Mokyr delivered the Weinberg College Convocation address. 

The intellectual life of the department remained as vibrant as ever. We were delighted to welcome Peter Howitt for a distinguished lecture and Michael Kremer for this year’s Bies Lecture. The department also hosted a number of outstanding conferences and workshops, including the Household and Gender Economics Workshop, the CSIO Alumni Conference, and a conference honoring Nobel Laureate Joel Mokyr’s extraordinary contributions to economic history. These events showcased both the breadth of modern economics and the collaborative spirit that makes Northwestern such a stimulating place to do research.

Our undergraduate community also continued to flourish. I was especially pleased to see the continued growth of the Northwestern Economics Tournament (NET), which has quickly become an exciting opportunity for students to engage with economics beyond the classroom. Initiatives like this reflect the creativity and energy of our students and the dedication of the faculty and staff who support them.

Every year also brings transitions. We thank Joel Horowitz for his many years of distinguished service to Northwestern and wish him a rewarding retirement. We are also grateful for the many contributions of Mar Reguant, Garima Sharma, and Kunal Sangani and wish each of them every success in the next stage of their careers.

This year’s Ph.D. graduates have once again secured outstanding positions in academia, research institutions, government, and the private sector, continuing the department’s long tradition of preparing economists who make important contributions throughout the profession. We congratulate all of our graduates and look forward to following their future accomplishments. 

As always, none of what we accomplish would be possible without the dedication of our faculty, students, staff, alumni, and friends of the department. Thank you for everything you do to make this such an exceptional intellectual community. I hope you enjoy reading about many of this year’s accomplishments in the pages that follow, and I wish everyone a productive, restful, and enjoyable summer.