Q&A with Ben Polak: The former provost returns to teaching
Monday, December 14, 2020
Ben Polak, the William C. Brainard Professor of Economics, stepped down as Provost in February 2020 after serving seven years in the position. He has rejoined his faculty peers in the department resuming his teaching. We asked Professor Polak what his time was like as Provost and how his time has been back in front of the class (albeit virtual this term).
As an economist, what strengths do you feel you brought to the provost position?
Economists, me included, bring strengths but also weaknesses to administration. On the strength side, administrators have to make decisions. Provosts have, in particular, to allocate scarce resources. Economists know how to frame those problems, how to use data, and how to think through tradeoffs. That helped. On the weakness side, the typical economist – certainly this typical economist – is a little less good at the human-interaction side of manage