John Kenneth Galbraith, Warburg Professor of Economics Emeritus, has donated a $10,000 annual prize for graduate-level teaching in the Department of Economics, to be awarded by the department's second-year graduate students.
James S. Duesenberry, Maier Professor of Banking and chairman of the Economics Department, said yesterday that the prize will be given for the next five years and that assosiate professors and tenured professors are eligible to receive.
Duesenberry said "it was possible" that grad students could influence the tenure process by awarding the prize to an untenured faculty member.
Karl E. Case, head tutor in Economics, said yesterday that while Galbraith sincerely wished to provide incentive for high-quality graduate school teaching, he also wished to "have some fun with his colleagues."
The quality of the Ec Department's graduate-level teaching has been criticized in the past, articularly in last year's report of the Visiting Committee of the Board of Overseers, which described Economics graduate students as "alienated."
