Homecoming
Kennedy School founder feted for Nobel award

FORUM | Thomas Schelling was feted at a Forum event in October for winning the 2005 Nobel Prize in economics and for his contributions to the Kennedy School.

Now a distinguished professor of economics at the University of Maryland, Schelling is considered one of the founders of the modern-day Kennedy School, where he was a professor of political economy.

Moderator Edith Stokey, a lecturer in public policy, described the elation that swept through the Kennedy School after Schelling won the Nobel “for having enhanced our understanding of conflict and cooperation through game-theory analysis.”

“It was a universal recognition of what you have contributed to this school,” she said.

Known for his book The Strategy of Conflict, Schelling has written on military strategy and arms control, energy and environmental policy, climate change, nuclear proliferation, and terrorism. Dean David Ellwood said: “He takes very simple ideas or concepts, or simple stories, and converts them into very big and powerful ideas.”

Added panelist Richard Zeckhauser, professor of political economy: “He helped to make the world a safer place to live. For that, the world is grateful.”