October 12, 2009

The College of Arts and Sciences is extremely pleased and proud to announce that Elinor Ostrom, the Arthur F. Bentley Professor of Political Science, has been awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences “for her analysis of economic governance, especially the commons.”

Professor Ostrom is the first woman to win the Nobel in Economics; with this prize, she becomes one of only 40 women worldwide to have won the prize. Elinor Ostrom is co-founder and co-director of the Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis, and is part-time co-director of the Center for the Study of Institutions, Population, and Environmental Change (CIPEC). She also holds an appointment in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs.

Professor Ostrom served as president of the American Political Science Association in 1996-1997 and was the first woman to chair the Department of Political Science at IU. She was inducted to the American Academy of Political and Social Science in 2008. She received her B.A. at the University of California, Los Angeles, 1954, her M.A. at UCLA in 1962, and her Ph.D. at UCLA in 1965. She will travel to Stockholm in December to accept the prize and deliver her Nobel Laureate lecture.

2009 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences »