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Honorary Doctorates Conferred on GSE Scientific Council Members
In the past week, GSE Scientific Council Members Robert Solow (MIT) and Jacques Drèze (Université de Louvain) were awarded the title of Doctor Honoris Causa by the UPF and UAB, respectively. The two renowned scholars were in Barcelona for the March 1st meeting of the GSE’s Scientific Council, of which they are members.
UPF Ceremony for Robert M. Solow
The ceremony for Professor Robert Solow took place on Friday, February 29, at the Auditorium at the UPF Ciutadella campus. Professor Solow, Emeritus Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Nobel Laureate in Economics (1987), was awarded the degree in recognition of "his crucial contributions in a variety of fields of economic science, which have constituted a starting point for modern economic theory of growth, and in recognition of his extensive and at the same time intense academic and intellectual trajectory".
Professor Solow was accompanied by Andreu Mas Colell, Chairman of the BSE and UPF Professor, and the “laudatio” speech was given by Jaume Ventura, Professor at the UPF and GSE and Researcher at CREI. The ceremony was concluded with a speech by Josep Joan Moreso, Rector of the UPF.
Robert Solow is the UPF’s fourth recipient of doctor honoris causa since its foundation in 1990, following in the footsteps of South African archbishop Desmond Tutu (2000), historian and humanist Miquel Batllori (2002) and filmmaker Woody Allen (2007).
Scientific Council Member and Nobel Laureate Robert M. Solow is conferred a doctor honoris causa at the UPF
Professor Robert Solow at the ceremony
UAB Ceremony for Jacques H. Drèze
Following the first doctor honoris causa ceremony, on Monday, March 3rd, GSE Scientific Council member Jacques Drèze was conferred a doctor honoris causa degree by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.
The ceremony took place at 12 PM in the Conference Hall (Sala d'actes) of the UAB Bellaterra campus. Jacques Drèze is Professor Emeritus and member of CORE at the Université Catholique de Louvain. He was nominated by the UAB Faculty of Economics and Business Studies in recognition of his outstanding academic merits, his contribution in promoting and structuring research in Europe, and his role in the creation of institutions which promote the internationalization, quality and application of economic research to help solve problems affecting society.
The distinguished professor’s promoter in the ceremony was UAB and GSE Professor Salvador Barberà, who described the professor as “one of the premiere European economists,” going on to say that “his research has opened new pathways in a variety of area, for example theory of general equilibrium, game theory, econometrics (in particular with his focus on Bayesian theory), macroeconomics and political economics.”
In his acceptance speech, Professor Drèze cited the excellence of the UAB, citing in particular its pioneering role in the establishment of a solid economics foundation in Barcelona . The ceremony was concluded with a speech by UAB Rector Lluís Ferrer.
Professor Drèze is not the first member of the GSE community to receive an honorary doctorate degree from the UAB. In 1993, Scientific Council Chairman Hugo Sonnenschein (University of Chicago) was given the title doctor honoris causa by the university.
Professor Drèze speaks with GSE Board member Joachim Silvestre
Université de Louvain Professor Jacques H. Drèze attends a function of the GSE Scientific Council the weekend before being awarded a doctor honoris causa by the UAB