Don Coursey

Don L. Coursey is the Ameritech Professor of Public Policy Studies at the Irving B. Harris Graduate School of Public Policy Studies at the University of Chicago. From 1996 to 1998, Coursey served as Dean of the Harris School. 

Coursey's research has focused on new ways to understand and balance public preferences among the competing public policy goals. He has also done extensive research on the design of regulation, particularly in the area of the environment and natural resources. Coursey recently led an investigation of environmental equity in Chicago by examining the relationship between the location of older hazardous industrial sites and the racial composition of the surrounding neighborhoods. In 1996, Coursey co-authored The Locality of Waste Sites Within the City of Chicago: A Demographic, Social and Economic Analysis, a report that examined the relationship between active hazardous sites (such as incinerators or landfills), minority populations, and public health concerns.

Coursey joined the faculty of the Harris School in 1993. He received both a B.A. in mathematics and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Arizona, and has previously taught at the University of Wyoming and Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. He has received the Burlington-Northern Foundation Award for Distinguished Achievement in Teaching; the Greater St. Louis Award for Excellence in University Teaching; and the John M. Olin School of Business Teacher of the Year Award in 1989 and 1990.
 

Richard J. Mahoney

Richard J. Mahoney is the Distinguished Executive in Residence at the Weidenbaum Center.  He was Chairman & CEO of the Monsanto Company from 1983-1995. During that period he changed Monsanto from a largely chemical commodity company to the world leader in Agricultural Biotechnology, a strong player in the pharmaceutical industry, and a company recognized for its forward-thinking environmental policies. He serves on the board of directors of Union Pacific Railroad and is an advisory director of Metropolitan Life Insurance Co.  A prolific writer and lecturer on public policy issues, he was a regular contributor to the Sunday New York Times as a columnist for “From the Desk of” and “Viewpoint.”  He has written numerous op-eds on subjects including Regulation, Taxation, Tort Law, Environmental Policy, Corporate Governance, Health Care, Science Policy, Corporate Political Contributions, Trade Policy.  He established the CEO Series at the Weidenbaum Center — a collection of original essays by prominent corporate CEOs.  His essay, “The Anatomy of a Public Policy Crisis,” is widely quoted and used in university classwork.  He holds honorary degrees from Exeter College, Oxford University, England; UMASS; University of Missouri-St. Louis; and Westminster College. 
 

Russell Roberts

Roberts is Director of the Weidenbaum Center's Media Retreat and Professor of Economics at George Mason University. He is interested in making economic ideas accessible to non-economists. His latest book is The Invisible Heart: An Economic Romance (MIT Press, 2001). Written in the form of a novel, it takes a provocative look at corporate responsibility, government regulation and the role of business in our lives.

His novel on international trade policy, The Choice: A Fable of Free Trade and Protectionism, was named one of the top ten books of 1994 by Business Week and one of the best books of 1994 by the Financial Times. An updated and revised edition was published in the spring of 2000. 

Roberts is a frequent commentator on business and economics for National Public Radio's "Morning Edition." In addition to numerous academic publications, he has written for the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.

Ellen Ruppel Shell

Ellen Ruppel Shell is Co-Director of the Knight Center for Science and Medical Journalism at Boston University. A correspondent for the Atlantic Monthly, her articles, essays, and reviews have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, Discover, The Smithsonian, and dozens of other national publications.

She is the author most recently of The Hungry Gene: The Science of Fat and the Future of Thin, a consideration of the international obesity pandemic. Prof. Ruppel Shell has been a frequent guest on television and radio over the past year, including Talk of the Nation, Fresh Air, CBS, ABC, and CNN. She holds a degree in biology from the University of Rochester, and studied neurophysiology as a Vannevar Bush Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
 

Murray Weidenbaum

Murray Weidenbaum has been an economist in three worlds business, government and academia. He holds the Mallinckrodt Distinguished University Professorship at Washington University in St. Louis, where he also serves as Chairman of the University's Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Government, and Public Policy. He is currently chairman of the US Trade Deficit Review Commission of the U.S. Congress.

In 1981 and 1982, Dr. Weidenbaum was President Reagan's first chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers. He helped to formulate the economic policy of the Reagan Administration and was a key spokesman for the Administration on economic and financial issues. In 1983-89, he was a member of the President's Economic Policy Advisory Board.

Earlier, Dr. Weidenbaum was the Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy in the Nixon Administration. He also served as the Corporate Economist at the Boeing Company. He is a member of the board of directors of Harbour Group, Macroeconomic Advisers, and Center for Strategic and International Studies. He is a member of advisory boards of the Congressional Joint Tax Committee, the Center for Strategic Tax Reform, the American Council for Capital Formation, the American Enterprise Institute, the Committee for Economic Development, and the Foreign Policy Research Institute.

He received a B.B.A. from City College of New York, an M.A. from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. from Princeton University. He has been a faculty member at Washington University since 1964 and was Chairman of the Economics Department from 1966 to 1969.