Nobel laureate, KU alum Vernon Smith to address business school graduates

LAWRENCE -- Nobel Prize winner Vernon L. Smith, a University of Kansas graduate, will be the guest speaker for the School of Business graduate recognition ceremony at 4 p.m. Friday, May 16, at the Lied Center of Kansas.

Smith received the Nobel Prize in economics in October 2002, along with Daniel Kahneman. Smith received the award "for having established laboratory experiments as a tool in empirical economic analysis, especially in the study of alternative market mechanisms."

"We are pleased to have Vernon Smith, a native Kansan and a Jayhawk, address our graduates and their families at the ceremony," said William L. Fuerst, dean of the business school.

Smith was born in Wichita in 1927. He received his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, received his master's degree in economics from KU in 1952 and his Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University.

Smith is a professor of economics and law at George Mason University, a research scholar in the Interdisciplinary Center for Economic Science and a fellow of the Mercatus Center in Arlington, Va.

In addition to featuring Smith, the school will recognize R. Michael Beatty of Salina with the 2003 Distinguished Alumni Award and the late Robert G. Billings, Lawrence, with the 2003 Honorary Distinguished Alumni Award.

Fuerst said the business school has a graduating class of 344 bachelor's degree, 131 master's degree and six Ph.D. recipients. The KU School of Business, begun in 1927, is continually ranked one of the best public business schools in the nation.