It is my pleasure to report that our graduate program continues to thrive in this unusual time, thanks to the tremendous efforts of our faculty, staff, and students. Nineteen new students joined us this year, despite various obstacles to matriculation presented by the pandemic, and they are now an integral part of our intellectual community. In terms of career placement, our strong record continues: all students on the 2019-2020 market landed outstanding jobs. The list of our placement outcomes includes tenure-track positions at Columbia Business School, Duke, Harvard Business School, MIT, UC Berkeley ARE, UT Austin Business School and other leading departments, as well as top industry positions; moreover, Ian Ball, who is joining MIT after a one year postdoc at Microsoft, has been invited to attend the ReStud tour as a speaker. All are to be congratulated for their achievements under the masterful guidance of Placement Directors Joe Altonji and Giuseppe Moscarini. In the virtual commencement in May, fifteen graduating students were granted their Ph.D.s; among them, six earned distinctions and seven received the Trimis Prize.
While the impact of Covid-19 continues to pose challenges to us, the strengths of our program, such as its high standard for rigorous research and collegial and vibrant intellectual culture, remain sounder than ever. Dean Cooley of the Graduate School recently noted that the economics “program is in great shape … Clearly the graduate program in economics is well-run.” We owe much of this success to Truman Bewley, who served as the DGS for over 24 years. Following Truman means I have some big shoes to fill, though fortunately he continues to offer me invaluable advice. In closing, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Truman for his wisdom, support and contributions to our program.
Yuicihi Kitamura
Director of Gratuate Studies
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