The Patrick and Shirley Ryan Family will endow a Center for Applied Microeconomics

The following includes an excerpt from the Northwestern Now article about the Patrick and Shirley Ryan Family gift to Northwestern University. Read the full article here to learn more.

The Patrick G. ’59, ’09 H and Shirley W. Ryan ’61, ’19 H (’97, ’00 P) Family has made a gift that will endow a Center for Applied Microeconomics, solidifying Northwestern’s leadership position in economics while fueling research with the capacity for significant social and policy impact. The Department of Economics, housed in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, currently is ranked seventh by U.S. News & World Report and has award-winning faculty, a renowned Ph.D. program and a track record of cutting-edge research. The department has included a Nobel Prize winner and, for the past 25 years, has offered the most popular major for undergraduate students. The University’s microeconomics ranking rose from 17th in 2009 to 5th in 2021.

“The Ryans’ generous support will help Northwestern’s highly ranked Department of Economics tackle new and exciting problems at the cutting edge of economic theory and practice,” said Adrian Randolph, Weinberg College dean. “Moreover, scholars and students from across Northwestern will benefit from this investment in the Center for Applied Microeconomics, putting us at the center of discourses about some of the most pressing issues facing our nation and the world.”