Of Note

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Gita Gopinath Appointed Chief Economist at the International Monetary Fund

Image of Gita GopinathFaculty Associate Gita Gopinath, John Zwaanstra Professor of International Studies and of Economics at Harvard University, was appointed chief economist at the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Gopinath is the first woman to hold the position, and will take a two-year leave from Harvard in January 2019 to serve her appointment. At the IMF, “Gopinath will lead a team of more than 1,000 researchers while also serving as the most influential policy adviser to the managing director.” 

Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt Book Selected in TIME’s Ten Best Nonfiction Books of 2018

Faculty Associates Steven Levitsky, David Rockefeller Professor of Latin American Studies at Harvard University, and Daniel Ziblatt, Eaton Professor of the Science of Government at Harvard University, are the authors of the book, How Democracies Die (Penguin Random House). The book is included in Time magazine’s top ten list of best nonfiction books of 2018 for the authors’ ability to contextualize democracy in the face of authoritarianism, both in the US and around the world. 

King of Spain Gives Asturias Award to Michael Sandel

Faculty Associate Michael Sandel, Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Government at Harvard University is the recipient of the 2018 Princess of Asturias Award for Social Sciences. The Princess of Asturias Foundation gives the prestigious award every year in Oviedo, Spain, to recognize outstanding achievement in eight categories including social sciences, research, literature, arts, and more. Sandel was recognized for his enormous contributions in promoting “dialogue and public debate [about] justice and the common good,” and to make these questions part of “people’s daily life.”

Rohini Pande Wins 2018 Carolyn Shaw Bell Award

Faculty Associate Rohini Pande, Rafik Hariri Professor of International Political Economy at the Harvard Kennedy School, is the recipient of the 2018 Carolyn Shaw Bell Award. The American Economic Association’s Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession has given out the award every year since 1998 to honor an "individual who has furthered the status of women in the economics profession through example, achievements, increasing our understanding of how women can advance in the economics profession or mentoring others." See the full announcement by the AEA for more details. 

Seven Faculty Associates Win Harvard Global Institute Grants

The Harvard Global Institute awarded grants to seven projects this year that feature interdisciplinary, cross-collaborative research, and seven Faculty Associates are among the recipients: Rema Hanna will study improving access to state goods and services in India; Arthur Kleinman will develop a program to improve elderly care in China; Chi-Man "Winnie" Yip et al. will work to help eliminate malaria in China; and Meg Rithmire, Timothy Colton, Tarek Masoud, and Odd Arne Westad will study global neighborhoods in the context of a multipolar international power system. 

Former Academy Scholars Win APSA Awards

Two 2017–2018 Academy Scholars have won awards from the American Political Science Association. David Szakonyi's dissertation, “Renting Elected Office: Why Businesspeople Become Politicians in Russia,” has received the American Political Science Association’s 2018 Gabriel A. Almond Award for Best Dissertation in Comparative Politics. Mariano Sánchez-Talanquer's dissertation, “States Divided: History, Conflict, and State Formation in Mexico and Colombia,” has received the American Political Science Association’s 2018 William Anderson Award for the best dissertation in the general field of federalism or intergovernmental relations, state and local politics. 

Lawrence Bobo Named Dean of Social Science

Faculty Associate Lawrence Bobo, W.E.B. Du Bois Professor of the Social Sciences and professor of African and African American studies, was appointed dean of social science at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University. Bobo, who studies race, ethnicity, politics, and social inequality, helped previous Dean of Social Science Claudine Gay found the FAS Inequality in America Initiative last year. For more details on Bobo's many contributions, see article in the Harvard Gazette.  

George Paul Meiu Receives 2018 Ruth Benedict Prize

Faculty Associate George Paul Meiu, John and Ruth Hazel Associate Professor of the Social Sciences at Harvard University, is the recipient of the 2018 Ruth Benedict Prize in the category of Outstanding Single­-Authored Monograph for his book, Ethno-erotic Economies: Sexuality, Money, and Belonging in Kenya (University of Chicago Press, 2017). The prize, awarded annually by the Association for Queer Anthropology (AQA), a section of the American Anthropological Association, is for "outstanding scholarship on a lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender topic." 

Jacob Olupona Wins Martin E. Marty Public Understanding of Religion Award

Faculty Associate Jacob Olupona, professor of African religious traditions at Harvard Divinity School and professor of African and African American studies at Harvard University, is the recipient of the 2018 Martin E. Marty Public Understanding of Religion Award. The award, given by the American Academy of Religion, “recognizes extraordinary contributions to the public understanding of religion” and is given to individuals at any stage of their career.  

Melissa Dell Wins Elaine Bennett Prize

Faculty Associate Melissa Dell, assistant professor of economics at Harvard University, won the 2018 Elaine Bennett Research Prize. The award is given every other year by the American Economic Association, and recognizes outstanding contributions by a young woman in any field of economics. The prize is given in memory of Elaine Bennett, “who made significant contributions to economic theory and experimental economics during her short professional career, and who mentored many women economists at the start of their careers.”

Matteo Maggiori Wins Two Awards for Economics Research

Faculty Associate Matteo Maggiori, associate professor of economics at Harvard University, is the recipient of two awards. First is the Excellence Award in Global Economic Affairs, given by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy and awarded to young economists who have published papers in the area of global economic affairs. Second is the AQR Insight Award, which Maggiori and his coauthors received for their working paper, “International Currencies and Capital Allocation.” The AQR Insight Award recognizes outstanding academic working papers that offer “original, intelligent approaches to practical issues in the investment world.”  

Dustin Tingley Wins Society for Political Methodology Statistical Software Award

Faculty Associate Dustin Tingley, professor of government at Harvard University, is the recipient—along with colleagues Molly Roberts and Brandon Stewart—of the 2018 Society for Political Methodology Statistical Software Award for their stm package, “An R Package for the Structural Topic Model.” The award, distributed by Cambridge University Press’s Society for Political Methodology, recognizes individuals for developing statistical software that makes a significant research contribution.

Books by Robert D. Putnam and David Armitage Nominated Most Influential of Past Twenty Years

The Chronicle of Higher Education solicited scholars from across the academy to nominate their most influential academic book published over the past twenty years. Two Faculty Associates received nominations: Robert D. Putnam, former WCFIA director and Peter and Isabel Malkin Professor of Public Policy, Emeritus, at Harvard University, was nominated for his book Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. David Armitage, Lloyd C. Blankfein Professor of History at Harvard University, was nominated for the book he cowrote with Jo Guldi, The History Manifesto. Read more about the influential books nominated at the Chronicle of Higher Education.  

Maya Jasanoff Wins Cundill History Prize

Faculty Associate Maya Jasanoff, professor of history at Harvard University, won the 2018 Cundill History Prize for her book, The Dawn Watch: Joseph Conrad in a Global World. The Cundill Prize is awarded by McGill University and recognizes the best history writing in English, regardless of historical subject or period. It is given out every year “to the book that embodies historical scholarship, originality, literary quality and broad appeal.”