SOCIAL SCIENCE STARS: It鈥檚 not uncommon for 91探花professors to become officers in their academic fields, but recently there seems to have been quite a crop of them in the social sciences. Among them are: Margaret Levi, president-elect of the American Political Science Association; Victoria Lawson, vice president of the Association of American Geographers; Barbara Reskin, president of the American Sociological Association in 2001鈥�02; and Charles Hirschman, president-elect of the Population Association of America.
鈥淚t鈥檚 very unusual for a university to have so many people in such positions,鈥� said Susan Jeffords, former Arts and Sciences divisional dean for the social sciences.
RESOLVING A DILEMMA: Richard O. Zerbe Jr., professor in the Evans School of Public Affairs, has a new book out called Economic Efficiency in Law and Economics. The book, which has been called 鈥減athbreaking,鈥� is described this way:
鈥淓conomists are themselves not in agreement about the definition of economic efficiency. For normative economics the starting place for a definition is that an action or decision is efficient when the sum of the amounts people are willing to pay for an action exceeds the amount those who would lose from the action are willing to accept to allow the action. Willingness to pay for an action or a good will generally be less than the willingness to accept payment to forego the action so that the measure of value depends on whether or not one has a right to the good or to the action.
鈥淎mong the issues unspecified or unresolved are the treatment of the transaction鈥檚 costs associated with the action, the relation of gains and losses to legal rights and whether or not moral sentiments attached to concern for others should be included in the calculation. The book shows how these issues can be resolved in a way that enhances the power of economic analysis.鈥�
THE WHAT BOWL? A correction that appeared in a Texas newspaper should provoke a chuckle from folks around the University. The item in the Austin American-Statesman read as follows: 鈥淎n article on Washington State鈥檚 football team on Page C5 of Monday鈥檚 Sports section incorrectly referred to the university鈥檚 annual game against the 91探花 as the Egg Bowl. The game is the Apple Cup.鈥� Guess those Texas cowboys can鈥檛 tell fruit from dairy products (and they don鈥檛 know their crockery, either).
KUDOS: Peter Guttorp, chair of Statistics, will be heading to Lund Institute of Technology and Link枚ping University as the Swedish Association of Graduate Engineers鈥� Environmental Professor during 2004鈥�05. This professorship is awarded to an internationally known researcher in order to stimulate and catalyze Swedish environmental research . . . Economics Professor Charles Nelson was elected a Fellow of the Econometric Society, an honor given to those who have made significant contributions to Economics Science . . . College of Forest Resources Dean Bruce Bare was recently elected chair of the Western National Association of Professional Forestry Schools and Colleges (NAPFSC) and a Society of American Foresters Fellow.
Do you know someone who deserves kudos? If so, send his or her name and achievement to uweek@u.washingon.edu.