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“It’s no surprise that I and my siblings all gravitated toward academia. My parents were both deeply committed to education and lived frugally so we could go to college without acquiring debt. In the early ’80s, I was a @harvard undergraduate at a time when America was in a recession. As unemployment spiked, I saw the damaging effects of the economic downturn, and my heart went out to those who had lost their jobs. I realized then that economics could be a useful framework to think about and break down important social issues. After getting a bachelor’s degree in economics, I didn’t know what I wanted to do. In my family, it wasn’t a question of…

“I came from what could euphemistically be called ‘humble circumstances,’ but my life was completely changed, and made, by financial aid. In high school, I was awarded a scholarship to @yale, from which I went on to receive a B.A., an M.B.A, and a Ph.D. That scholarship opened the door for so many possibilities and gave me access to resources I would never otherwise have gotten. My experience showed me that universities can be rare spots in American society with very solid institutional practices to ensure that opportunities for social mobility are being widely distributed, especially among traditionally underrepresented students. Now, as vice dean of…