In Memory of Professor D. Gale Johnson

Grace Tsiang, Senior Lecturer in Economics, has been named the first D. Gale Johnson Director of Undergraduate Studies in Economics.

The Johnson Directorship honors the years of service to the undergraduate program made by the late D. Gale Johnson, who died in 2003, former Eliakim Hastings Moore Distinguished Service Professor in Economics. Johnson played an important role in building the Economics Department and he also served as Dean of the Social Science Division and Provost of the University

Tsiang, whose research has been on human capital utilization and distribution in Malaysia and Taiwan, received an A. M. in 1983 and a Ph.D. in 1991 in Economics from the University. She has worked as Director or Co-Director of the economics undergraduate program for most of the past decade.

“Her leadership is, in part, responsible for the explosion in the number of economics majors over that time,” said Derek Neal, Chair of Economics. “Since 1996, roughly about one out of every five declared concentrators has chosen economics.”

“In addition to her duties as Director, Grace is known as one of the department’s best teachers,” Neal said. This year she is teaching the Elements Of Economic Analysis-1 (a consumer choice course), Introduction to International Finance, and the Undergraduate Honors Workshop.

The Directorship provides resources that Tsiang will use to further enhance the undergraduate economics program. One priority for these resources is the expansion of opportunities for undergraduate research in economics.

In recent years, many of economics majors have completed impressive original research for their honors theses, and unprecedented numbers are now going on to elite Ph.D programs for graduate study in economics. Gifts in support of the D. Gale Johnson Director Fund will help support these efforts.