Following a $10-million donation from William Rhodes '57 last February, the William Rhodes Center for International Economics was formally instituted in July. Though the center has kept a low profile since Rhodes' initial gift, its director, Professor of Economics Ross Levine, has taken steps to increase its activity and profile.
Levine is serving as chair of an advisory council that coordinates the center's activities and will review applications for research project funding. The council is organizing an inaugural conference to bring international scholars to discuss finance, trade and differences in economic development. Other council members include Andrew Foster, professor of economics and department chair, Watson Institute Director Barbara Stallings and professors with related research interests. Deputy Provost Vincent Tompkins '85 serves as the council's bridge to the provost's office.
The council has been in close contact with members of the departments of sociology, political science and economics, along with various groups at the Watson Institute, to advertise the center, Levine said. The center's goal is to be "less of a top down management arrangement and much more of a vehicle where innovative ideas by faculty and graduate students can be supported," he said.
The advisory council is currently considering several proposals, according to Levine. The biggest among these is a request for support for another conference similar to the center's inaugural conference.
Another proposal concerns funding for travel by a graduate student to Germany to collect data for a research project, and a third proposal seeks to invite visitors to Brown from international organizations such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. The center could connect those visitors with classes and faculty to "broaden the exposure that students have and also just form a connection for graduate students and faculty," Levine said.
Levine attributed the low number of proposals so far to the hectic nature of the beginning of the fall semester. "Given the innovativeness of faculty, when there are resources available to do research, ... there will be an intensification of proposals that come our way," Levine said, noting that teaching responsibilities ease at the end of the semester.
Levine is also chair of a search committee for a new professor of economics, which Rhodes is funding separately from his namesake center. The search committee, which includes more than one member of the center's advisory council, has identified several strong candidates, but "moving senior people is hard," Levine said. The candidate, once acquainted with the University, might take over Levine's job as director of the center, he said.
"Rhodes is very generous. It's very nice of somebody to devote a huge amount of his or her money to supporting any sort of activity at Brown, so that's great - it's great for students, it's great for faculty. I know it's cliched, but in the end, an individual has to write a very big check and that makes all of our lives a lot better," Levine said.
