News

Durham Honours Leading Economist for Business School Anniversary

(3 May 2005)

One of the world’s leading economists, Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz, has been awarded an honorary doctorate by Durham University as part of the 40th anniversary year celebrations for Durham Business School.

Joseph Stiglitz, now Professor at Columbia University, New York, has also taught at Princeton, Stanford and MIT in the United States and at Oxford in the UK. He was a member of the Council of Economic Advisors (1993-95) during the Clinton administration and was its chairman (1995-97). He was also Chief Economist and Senior Vice-President of the World Bank (1997-2000).

Professor Tony Antoniou, Dean of Durham Business School commented: “The Advisory Board of Durham Business School nominated Professor Stiglitz for an honorary Doctor of Civil Law degree because of his ground-breaking contributions to many areas of theoretical and empirical economics. This includes his influential role in establishing the new field of the Economics of Information which underpinned the award of the Nobel Prize in 2001”.

Sir Kenneth Calman, Vice Chancellor of Durham University said:” We are delighted that Professor Stiglitz is joining the international family of the University. His career and achievements embrace both academic excellence and the benefits that academic research extend into society as a whole.”

The University is holding a special ceremony to confer the honorary degree in September when the school is also celebrating its 40th anniversary with an international conference on wealth creation.

For further information please contact: Lynn Reynolds, Durham Business School 0191 334 5238 lynn.reynolds@durham.ac.uk

Notes to editors

The awarding ceremony will be held at Durham Castle on Thursday 22 September 2005 alongside the School’s Nascent Entrepreneurship conference. Further details about media coverage facilities will be sent out nearer the time.

Nascent Entrepreneurship conference - September 21-23 2005:

As part of Durham Business School’s 40th birthday celebrations, the Centre for Entrepreneurship will hold its second international conference on the theme of nascent entrepreneurship. Nascent entrepreneurs are the people engaged in the process of creating new firms; and nascent entrepreneurship is the wellspring of national wealth creation for the future.

The top scholars from around the world will present relevant and contemporary articles on nascent entrepreneurship. The emphasis of the conference is on quality and policy relevance.

A better understanding of nascent entrepreneurship is essential to the design and provision of effective business start-up support. Attendance at this conference is a “must” for anyone interested in supporting, researching or finding out more about this important socio-economic phenomenon.

Durham Business School background: Durham Business School is the one of the longest established business schools in the UK and the leading business school in the North East. It has origins in the Economics Department of Durham University. Over the last few years the School has grown considerably to take its faculty membership to over 80 - including 24 professors.

Predominately postgraduate with a student body of 2500, Durham Business School has an international reputation. 84% of its full-time MBA degree class are from outside the UK and the programme is ranked in the Financial Times top 100 global MBAs. Durham's distance-learning MBA is listed in the FT's top 20 distance programmes in the world.

The School is highly regarded for its research in entrepreneurship, finance and public policy and has a long and respected history for developing and assisting businesses from SMEs to multinationals. It champions the exchange of intelligence and information between business leaders and the academic community.

Durham Business School is an active contributor to the development of business policy both in the UK and internationally and is home to many initiatives such as the award-winning Women into Network (WIN).