Student Prizes

Graduate student prizes honor outstanding faculty who have been excellent teachers and mentors to students, wonderful colleagues, and instrumental in building the reputation of the department. These financial awards are supported by contributions from those who support the mission of the department and who wish to recognize our outstanding faculty and support our fine students.

J. Walter Elliott Memorial Award for Excellence in Macroeconomics

J. Walter Elliott was a vital and esteemed member of the faculty from 1975 to 1990. An internationally recognized scholar, he was a mainstay of our graduate program in macroeconomics. This award was established by his family, colleagues, students, and friends to honor his memory and recognizes an outstanding performance on the macroeconomics preliminary exam.

Previous Award Winners

  • Zo Andriantomanga
  • Matthew Theobald
  • Siyu Feng
  • Majid Maki Nayeri
  • Chandramouli Banerjee
  • Linh Pham
  • Xiaoli Guo
  • Swati Kumari
  • GuangLiang Ye
  • Chad Cotti
  • Artatrana Ratha
  • Souphala Chomsisengphet
  • Sumit Agarwal
  • Chic-Hsiang Chen
  • Anusua Datta
  • Susan Donohue Davies
  • Jacqueline Johnson Agesa

William L. Holahan Prize for Outstanding Teaching

The Holahan Prize celebrates forty years of outstanding research, service and teaching by Professor Holahan (1972-2013). In addition to serving as Department Chair for nearly a decade and writing seminal articles in economic theory, Bill communicated the practical importance of economics with masterful insight, wisdom and wit in his introductory class. The Prize, given to the outstanding teaching assistant, encourages the passionate and thoughtful education at which Prof. Holahan excelled. Your contribution to the Holahan Fund supports our best teaching assistants by adding to the endowment that finances the Prize.

Previous Award Winners

  • Ole Ulpts (2024)
  • Benjamin C. Adams (2023)
  • Avigyan Sengupta (2023)
  • Salome Giorgadze (2022)
  • Zoe Laulederkind (2021)
  • Joseph McCool (2020)
  • Eduard Storm (2019)
  • Majid Maki Nayeri (2018)
  • Amid Ardakani (2017)
  • Sujata Saha (2016)
  • Uche Jarrett (2015)
  • Hadiseh Fariditavana (2014)
  • Omid Ardakani (2014)

Richard Perlman Prize in Labor Economics

For more than three decades, Richard Perlman provided intellectual leadership, excellence in teaching and good humor to the Department of Economics. He served as Department Chair, wrote a leading textbook in labor economics, and published in the field’s best journals.  As a fitting tribute, friends and students have established an annual prize for the outstanding paper in labor economics. This prize was first given in 1999. Your contribution to the Perlman Fund supports our best student scholars and can help us grow this into a fully endowed fund.

Previous Award Winners

  • Jan Philip Steitz (2024)
  • Benjamin C. Adams (2023)
  • Caglar Onal (2022)
  • Sezen Ozan Onal (2021)
  • Eduard Storm (2020)
  • John Schwendel (2019)
  • Sharthinth Venkatesh (2018)
  • Martin Meder (2017)
  • Gabriel Courey (2016)
  • Mona Sameni (2015)
  • Ali Moghtaderi (2014)
  • Phillip Oberg (2013)
  • Benjamin Van Kammen (2012)
  • Laurie Miller (2011)
  • Emily Lechtenberg
  • Miao Chi
  • Johanna Storck
  • Julia Reilich
  • Patrick O’Halloran