MIT Sloan appoints Ben S. Bernanke distinguished senior fellow at Golub Center

Former Federal Reserve chair will conduct research, teach and participate in a wide range of MIT activities

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., July 28, 2020––The MIT Sloan School of Management announces the appointment of Ben S. Bernanke as distinguished senior fellow at the Golub Center for Finance and Policy (GCFP) for the 2020-2021 academic year.  Dr. Bernanke will teach a graduate-level class at MIT Sloan in the spring addressing financial regulation and contribute to the GCFP’s research and outreach agenda.  In the fall, Dr. Bernanke will be participating in a variety of activities on-line including the many MIT research seminars.

“We are delighted to welcome Dr. Ben S. Bernanke back to MIT. His leadership during the global financial crisis clearly demonstrated that ideas matter.  He will add greatly to the work of GCFP, Sloan and MIT,” said David Schmittlein, Dean of the MIT Sloan School of Management.

“Dr. Bernanke brings a unique combination of policy expertise and scholarly achievement that we hope will be a catalyst for new research initiatives that ultimately improve financial policymaking.”  added MIT Sloan Prof. Deborah Lucas, who is the director of GCFP.

Dr. Bernanke noted, “I am looking forward to re-engaging with the cutting edge research and teaching at MIT, where I received my own graduate education forty years ago.”

Dr. Bernanke joins MIT Sloan’s faculty after a distinguished career in both academics and government.  His government positions include Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, having been appointed to that position by both Presidents Bush and Obama, and Chair of the President's Council of Economic Advisers under President Bush.  Dr. Bernanke was a professor for many years at Princeton University.  His first academic appointment after graduate school at MIT was at Stanford. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics in 1975 from Harvard University (summa cum laude) and a Ph.D. in Economics from MIT in 1979.

Dr. Bernanke is the third recipient of this distinguished fellowship. The first recipient, Dr. Chester Spatt, held the position from 2017 to 2019 and the second recipient, Dr. Laura Kodres, held the position from 2019 to 2020.

The mission of the Golub Center is to serve as a catalyst for innovative, cross-disciplinary and non-partisan research and educational initiatives that address the unique challenges facing governments in their role as financial institutions and as regulators of the financial system. The Center is building a foundation that will support transformative improvements in the development and execution of financial policy today and in the decades to come. It leverages the Institute’s reputation of academic excellence and commitment to public service, and the acumen of MIT Sloan. For more information on GCFP, please visit: http://gcfp.mit.edu.

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