Over the summer, Stanford President John Hennessy approved 19 new professoriate appointments that were reviewed and submitted by the Advisory Board of Stanford’s Academic Council.  

Professors of economics Raj Chetty, formerly of Harvard, and Matthew Gentzkow, formerly of the University of Chicago, are among those newly appointed.

Chetty and Gentzkow are both winners of the John Bates Clark Medal, an award presented to economists under the age of 40 who have made the most significant contributions to economic thought. Their arrival means Stanford is now home to four of the 11 economists who have won the medal since 2000.

The New York Times reported that these additions to Stanford’s Economics department are indicative of a larger shift in the center of economic thought towards Stanford and away from MIT and Harvard in Boston.

Hennessy, however, stated that although this was an excellent recruiting year, he has not noticed any significant trends in faculty appointments.

“Great professors always want to be with other great professors and work with the very best students,” Hennessy wrote in an email to The Daily.

According to Hennessy, the recent appointment of several distinguished faculty members, particularly in the Department of Economics, reaffirms that Stanford is not only a hub for technology but also is able to recruit professors who are the best in their field across a variety of departments.

“The quality of our faculty and our students has increased significantly over the past 15 years, and Stanford is widely seen as one of the top few places in almost all disciplines,” Hennessy said.

“And the weather doesn’t hurt either,” he added.

In addition to professoriate appointments, 17 faculty members were reappointed to their faculty positions, eight professors were awarded emeriti titles, and 19 professors emeriti have returned for the current term.

Contact Arnav Mariwala at arnavm ‘at’ stanford.edu.