Stanford business prof to speak as part of Sichel Lecture Series

KALAMAZOO—A Stanford University professor of management and economics is coming to Western Michigan University as part of the Werner Sichel Lecture Series' 50th anniversary year.

Dr. David M. Kreps, the Adams Distinguished Professor of Management in the Stanford University Graduate School of Business with a courtesy appointment as professor of economics, will speak at 3 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 26, in 2028 Brown Hall. His presentation, titled "The Economics and Psychology of Worker Motivation," is free and open to the public.

Kreps, is among six highly decorated economists coming to WMU to celebrate the Sichel Series' 50th year. This year's series carries the theme "Award-Winning Economists Speak on Contemporary Economic Issues."

David M. Kreps

Kreps' research applies theories of dynamic choice behavior to economics with a wide variety of applications, including human resource management and non-cooperative game theory. Kreps has been named a fellow of both the Econometric Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2010, he was elected a Distinguished Fellow of the American Economic Association. Kreps' most recent book is titled "Microeconomic Foundations: Choice and Competitive Markets."

Kreps earned his doctoral degree in operations research from the Stanford University School of Engineering in 1975. In 1989, he was awarded the John Bates Clark Medal by the American Economic Association awarded to the "American economist under the age of 40 judged to have made the most significant contribution to economic thought and knowledge."

About the series

The Sichel Series is organized by the WMU Department of Economics and named in honor of Werner Sichel, a longtime WMU economics professor and former department chair, who retired in 2004. The series is annually cosponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences and W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research. The lectures are formatted with the general public in mind.

This year's series is being organized by Dr. Jean Kimmel, a WMU professor of economics.