Centennial Lecture at U of I College of Business: Rigor & Relevance

I'm returning to Champaign Urbana, to help celebrate the centennial of the University of Illinois College of Business, where I started my academic career. When I was there (1974-82), it was called the College of Commerce And Business Administration, and I had a joint appointment in its Departments of Business Administration and of Economics (which is now in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences).   It was a great eight years, which got me going in many ways.

I didn't choose the title of the lecture, nor the announcement, which presents me with a bit of a challenge:

Centennial Lecture: Rigor & Relevance, Friday October 16.

"Alvin Roth is a former member of the College of Business who won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 2012. Dr. Roth has successfully bridged economic theory and practice by designing efficient and equitable systems of matching markets. His work has been applied to design school choice procedures for public schools in Boston and New York City, kidney transplant exchange protocols, and clearinghouses for a variety of healthcare professions.

In honor of the College’s centennial anniversary, he is returning to Illinois to present this special lecture that should provide excellent insight into his research. How do engaged scholars such as Roth ensure that the right questions have been asked? How can researchers collaborate with practitioners to successfully co-produce significant knowledge? What specific actions are necessary to ensure effective knowledge transfer from academia to the practitioner world? Join us for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to learn from one of the brightest economist of our time. "


I plan to talk about how the theoretical work that I began when I came to Illinois grew into two streams of work that later led to my involvement in the design of labor market clearinghouses for doctors, and to the development of kidney exchange into what is now a standard form of transplantation.