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  6. Carolyn Shaw Bell Award

Carolyn Shaw Bell Award


The Carolyn Shaw Bell Award was created in January 1998 as part of the 25th Anniversary celebration of the founding of CSWEP. Carolyn Shaw Bell, the Katharine Coman Chair Professor Emerita of Wellesley College, was the first Chair of CSWEP. (To read a short biography of Carolyn Shaw Bell, see our Winter 2005 Newsletter.) The Carolyn Shaw Bell Award (“Bell Award”) is given annually to an individual who has furthered the status of women in the economics profession, through example, achievements, increasing our understanding of how women can advance in the economics profession, or mentoring others. 

Detailed guidance on the criterion used by the selection committee is available here.

View the Call for Nominations


2025 Carolyn Shaw Bell Award: Donna K. Ginther

Donna K. Ginther, Roy A. Roberts & Regents Distinguished Professor of Economics and Director of the Institute for Policy & Social Research at the University of Kansas

Named after the first chair of CSWEP, the Carolyn Shaw Bell Award was created as part of the 25th Anniversary celebration of the founding of CSWEP. The award has been given annually since 1998 to an individual who has furthered the status of women in the economics profession through example, achievements, increasing our understanding of how women can advance in the economics profession, or mentoring others. Professor Ginther will formally accept this award at the CSWEP business meeting and award ceremony during the 2026 AEA/ASSA meeting in Philadelphia.

Over her distinguished career, Professor Ginther has advanced the status of women in economics at every stage, from undergraduates considering graduate school to senior scholars shaping the profession, while building a highly influential research portfolio that has transformed how economists and policymakers understand gender, race, and inequality in academic careers and the scientific workforce. Her widely cited work documents gender gaps in economics and STEM, examines how mentoring and institutional policies affect women’s careers, and identifies where disparities persist and where they have narrowed. She has led influential evaluations of CSWEP’s CeMENT mentoring workshops, demonstrating that structured mentoring increases publications, strengthens collaboration networks, and raises tenure probabilities for female assistant professors in economics. She has also used her expertise to inform practice by serving on the CSWEP Board, the AEA Committee on Professional Climate, and other key professional bodies. Her research, mentorship, and leadership continue to create lasting, positive impacts on the status of women in the economics profession and across STEM fields.

Professor Ginther earned her B.A. (Honors), M.S., and Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She is a leading scholar in labor economics, science policy, economic demography, health economics, and the economics of the family. Her research has clarified why women earn less in academic science, how family structure affects children’s outcomes, and how gender, race, and ethnicity shape careers and funding in economics and across STEM fields. Seminal contributions include her work on the gender “leaky pipeline” in economics, her highly cited study “Women in Academic Science: A Changing Landscape,” and her research documenting racial and ethnic disparities in NIH funding and the scientific workforce. Her scholarship has directly informed major reports and policy discussions at the National Academies of Sciences, NIH, and other organizations. Her contributions have been widely recognized, including her election as a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and multiple university and disciplinary awards.

Professor Ginther’s service and public engagement mirror the reach of her research. At the University of Kansas, she has held major leadership roles as Director of the Institute for Policy & Social Research and the Center for Science, Technology & Economic Policy, where she has overseen dozens of grants and policy projects that connect rigorous research to pressing social and economic issues. Her reports on the status of women in Kansas, Medicaid expansion, workforce development, and higher education outcomes have shaped state and regional policy debates, and she has repeatedly been called on to brief governors, legislators, and civic leaders. Nationally and internationally, she has advised the National Academies, NIH, and other agencies on workforce diversity and the future of scientific training, and she has served in leadership roles in the Southern Economic Association and other professional organizations. 

Professor Ginther is widely celebrated for her work as an advisor, mentor and advocate. Former students and colleagues describe her as a transformative mentor whose combination of candor, strategic advice, and unwavering support has changed their career trajectories. She has advised or co-advised numerous Ph.D., master’s, and undergraduate students, and she maintains long-term relationships with her mentees as they move through different stages of their careers. Letter writers emphasize that “tens, if not hundreds” of women economists can trace crucial professional opportunities, including research assistantships, first conference talks, key introductions, grant opportunities and well-timed letters of recommendation, to her efforts. Professor Ginther’s nomination materials included accounts from 33 different economists citing examples of her kindness and generosity with her time and wise advice.

View the full announcement.

 

2024 Carolyn Shaw Bell Award Presentation :

 

Carolyn Shaw Bell Award Recipients