New speaker series to feature prominent women scholars

Rachel Croson to discuss status of women in academia

“The Status of Women in Academia” will be the topic of one of two lectures when Rachel T. A. Croson, Ph.D. visits the Danforth Campus April 14 and 15 in a new series launched by The Center for Research in Economics and Strategy (CRES) at the Olin Business School.

Croson

The “Distinguished Women in Economics and Strategy” series will host two senior scholars each year and target a wide audience from across many disciplines according to CRES director and John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics & Strategy, Glenn MacDonald, Ph.D. “My hope is to expand the resources available to my female colleagues at Olin, and so to contribute to their success. I also hope to augment the contributions Olin Business School makes to the community of scholars at Washington University, and expose some distinguished external faculty to the University.”

Associate professor of strategy Anne Marie Knott, Ph.D., is enthusiastic about the series and the inaugural speaker, Rachel Croson, who is currently a professor of economics and Director of the Negotiations Center at the University of Texas-Dallas. Knott says that Croson’s lectures will appeal to women in many different areas of study. “While her training is in economics, her work spans and is published in law, psychology, political science, operations, ethics, and organizational behavior.”

Croson received her PhD in Economics from Harvard University. Her research uses experimental and behavioral economics to investigate how individuals act in strategic situations. She has studied decisions in bargaining and negotiation, public goods provision and charitable giving, risk-taking and gambling, trust, alliances, inventory management, and many other domains.

In addition to her work in economics, Croson has been active in promoting the status of women in academia. She has been involved in several mentoring programs for female junior faculty. Her talk on the status of women in academia will examine its progress and pitfalls; the psychological literature on subtle bias which demonstrates how men and women are evaluated differently in hiring, promotion and tenure decisions; and programs designed to address these inequalities.

“Trust and Trustworthiness: An Experimental Approach” will be Croson’s first lecture at WUSTL on April 14, 4:00-5:30 p.m. in Simon Hall 106 with a reception to follow in the Lopata courtyard. This presentation describes a series of experiments examining trust and trustworthiness in different countries, with different levels of social distance, and among men and women.

A second talk on the “Status of Women in Academia” will be held on April 15, 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. in Simon 106, reception immediately following. Both lectures are open the university community; reservations are required. RSVP to Sandy Vaughn at svaughn@wustl.edu or 314-935-6707.