In June, Charles Calomiris, the Henry Kaufman Professor of Financial Institutions, was appointed the new faculty director of the Program for Financial Studies. He succeeds Laurie Hodrick, the A. Barton Hepburn Professor of Economics, who served as founding director of the program and guided its establishment and activities since the program’s inception in 2010.
"This is a really perfect time for building on what Laurie Hodrick accomplished. We have some opportunities to move to the next level," Calomiris says. "The Program for Financial Studies now is going to focus more on building faculty teams in financial studies areas, supporting the research that comes from those teams, disseminating it to the practitioner community, and getting the practitioner community involved in that research."
To accomplish these goals, Calomiris says the program will consolidate into specialized practice groups, resulting in the creation of up to eight new, focused initiatives. Currently, these initiatives include: Finance and Growth in Emerging Markets (led by Calomiris); Regulation of Financial Markets (led by Professor Lawrence Glosten); Future of Banking and Insurance (led by Professor Doron Nissim); and an as-yet-unnamed initiative on corporate finance (led by Professor Daniel Wolfenzon). Up to four additional initiatives may be added. Each initiative will involve a team of faculty members from across divisions coming together to plan research projects, major conference events, and special publications. They represent "a great opportunity for incentivizing teamwork between junior and senior faculty," Calomiris points out — a collaborative effort that "really helps the culture of [the School]."
"If you ask me what I am most excited about, it’s these new teams," Calomiris adds. "They’re going to create thematic research projects with [high] dissemination and visibility."
Calomiris joined the School in 1996, and he brings more than 20 years of research and teaching experience to the role, with broad expertise across the fields of banking, corporate finance, financial history, and monetary economics. His most recent book, written with Stephen Haber, is Fragile By Design: The Political Origins of Banking Crises and Scarce Credit (Princeton University Press 2014).
Since its founding five years ago, the Program for Financial Studies has successfully connected faculty members who approach financial studies from multiple disciplines with students, alumni, and industry leaders. The program has created initiatives like the No Free Lunch Seminar Series and Annual Conference.
"Please join me in congratulating Charlie on his new role and thanking Laurie for her tremendous passion, vision, and leadership of the Program over the past five years," says Dean Glenn Hubbard. "The Program has played an integral role in the life of the School, spawning initiatives related to research, curriculum development, and outreach in the field of financial studies, and I am certain it will continue to flourish under Charlie’s leadership."