ITI Program Director Transition

From: James Poterba <poterba_at_nber.org>
Date: Fri, 10 Jun 2016 07:35:20 -0400

Dear International Trade and Investment Program Members -

Last summer, Rob Feenstra, who is approaching twenty-five years of
program leadership, told me that he would like to pass the ITI program
director's baton to a successor. I am very grateful to the many program
members who have made time in the last few months to talk with me about
the factors that have contributed to the ITI program's success, and
about key considerations for a successful program director transition.
I have learned a great deal about current developments in international
economics through this process, and about the exciting range of
interesting topics that are currently attracting research attention.

I am delighted to announce that Steve Redding of Princeton University
has agreed to serve as the next director of the ITI program. Steve is
the Harold T. Shapiro '64 Professor of Economics in the Department of
Economics and the Woodrow Wilson School. He taught at the LSE and at
Yale prior to joining the Princeton faculty. Steve has been a very
active member of the ITI program since his appointment as a Research
Associate in 2011. He has made important research contributions to a
wide range of questions in international trade, economic geography, and
growth and productivity analysis. I look forward to working with him to
build on the program's past successes and to launch new initiatives. I
hope that you will join me in welcoming him to this new role, which he
will assume on September 1.

I also hope that you will be able to join me for a special ITI program
dinner at 6pm on Wednesday, July 13, during the upcoming Summer
Institute, when we will collectively thank Rob for his contributions as
the program's inaugural director. The dinner will be held at MIT's
Samberg Conference Center at 50 Memorial Drive in Cambridge. I look
forward to seeing you then -- all best wishes.

Jim Poterba
Received on Fri Jun 10 2016 - 08:16:53 EDT