Karen Smith Conway, 1987 recipient of the Ph.D. in Economics from Carolina, was named the Distinguished Professor of 2019 by the University of New Hampshire (UNH). This is the most prestigious award offered to a faculty member at that university. Michael Goldberg, a colleague in Economics at UNH, described why Karen was chosen: “You will not find a more dedicated, effective, and caring teacher anywhere in the country. Karen holds her students to very high standards. She is able to ask so much of her students because they see someone who is kind and approachable, and who cares deeply about them.”
Karen arrived at UNC in 1983 after earning her undergraduate degree at Eastern Illinois University. She specialized in labor economics and econometrics and wrote her dissertation with Professors Thomas Kniesner and David Guilkey. The title – Unobserved Variables in the Theory of the Household — signaled the creative mix of micro theory and econometrics that she employed in the thesis and has continued to use in her subsequent research and teaching. She joined UNH in 1987 upon graduating from Carolina.
You can read more about this prestigious award at https://www.unh.edu/unhtoday/2019/12/distinguished-professor-known-enthusiasm-scholarship?fbclid=IwAR1qSuO6TFI49tPN01J7MNzJ1ZR3dA1YcHORAnTR3EBEF91GqTZ88Ok3mts
Congratulations, Karen!