Graduate School alumna heads Federal Reserve
Janet Yellen ’71PhD (economics) became chair of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors on February 1. Her connections to Yale are many and strong, beginning as a graduate student. “Yale taught me the value of public service—applying what we learn to improve human welfare and alleviate economic hardship,” she says. “The lessons I learned at Yale remain relevant to the conduct of monetary policy today; indeed, the theoretical framework elaborated by James Tobin and William Brainard provides the main intellectual foundation for how I think about the asset purchase programs that the Fed has conducted to ease financial conditions and support growth.”
In 1997, the Graduate School accorded her its highest honor, the Wilbur Cross Medal. She was elected to the Yale Corporation as an alumni fellow, serving from 2000 to 2006. In 2011, she participated in the economics department’s reunion conference, where she spoke on a panel and joined a gathering of women—mostly graduate students and young alumni—to discuss the challenges and satisfactions of a career in economics. Yellen’s Yale connections are also personal: she is married to Nobel laureate economist George Akerlof ’62, and they have one son, Robert Akerlof ’03.
Learning to teach in a digital world
As Yale and other universities expand their digital offerings, graduate students increasingly want to acquire experience with online teaching. Sara Ronis (Judaic studies), working with the Yale Teaching Center and the University Committee on Online Education, is helping make that happen. Last year, Sara and Megan Ericson (biology) facilitated the Yale Teaching Center’s first-ever workshop on how to teach an online class. Sara is currently working with Lucas Swineford, executive director of the Office of Digital Dissemination and Online Education, to help graduate students create five-minute demonstration videos they can include with their job applications. “Given the market and where education is going, it’s very important for students to have the experience of online teaching,” Sara says. “Most of us did not take online classes, but we will be expected to give them. We’ll be much more compelling job candidates if we have this experience.”
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