For her efforts furthering the status of women in the economics profession through example, achievements, and mentoring, the American Economic Association’s Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession (CSWEP) is honoring Joyce Jacobsen with the 2021 Carolyn Shaw Bell Award. Dr. Jacobsen is president of Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York. She is the first woman to lead the colleges.
Named after the first chair of CSWEP, the Carolyn Shaw Bell Award was created as part of the 25th Anniversary celebration of the founding of CSWEP and has been given annually since 1998 to an individual who has furthered the status of women in the economics profession through example, achievements, increasing our understanding of how women can advance in the economics profession or mentoring others.
Dr. Jacobsen is also the Andrews Professor of Economics, Emerita at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. She also served as provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Wesleyan University before being named president of Hobart and William Smith Colleges in 2019. She first joined the faculty at Wesleyan University in 1996 after teaching at Rhodes College in Memphis.
Her research focuses on labor economics, particularly the economics of gender, including patterns of workforce gender segregation, migration, and the effects of interrupted work experience on women’s earnings and advancement.
Dr. Jacobsen holds a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University, a master’s degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a Ph.D. in economics from Stanford University.