Professor Scott Taylor, former PhD student at Queen's Economics Department and now a Canada Research Chair holder was named a fellow of the Canadian Economic Association.
After receiving the award at the meetings of the Canadian Economic Association in Toronto Professor Taylor posted the following message on his LinkedIn page:
The Value of A Queen’s Education
I am writing from the heart of Toronto where the Canadian Economics Meetings are being held. On Thursday I attended the Past President’s Dinner - an annual event for past Presidents of the Association, Distinguished Speakers, and new Fellows of the Canadian Economics Association. Looking around the room I couldn’t help but think of how so many of the dinner guests had shaped my life and my career. Almost 40 years ago I went to Queens University in a spontaneous fit of madness. I quit my very lucrative job in the Oil industry to try out a PhD program. I had mediocre prior training, and just hoped I’d make it to December. The first term was brutal - but magical - who wouldn’t want to be taught Econometrics by James MacKinnon; International Trade by the late Peter Neary; and Micro theory by Lorne Carmichael and then W. Bentley MacLeod. I struggled, I thrived, and Queens transformed my life. It gave me the tools I needed to compete with graduates from the very best US departments, it gave me the confidence I could compete, and it showed me how a great institution stays great by keeping all faculty oars in the water while treating graduate students with respect. I loved every minute of it. At the Past Presidents dinner I became a “very young” Fellow of the Canadian Economics Association - together with my long time co-author Brian Copeland and Victoria Zinde-Walsh. At the dinner I couldn’t even start to thank all of the Queens faculty present, but thought this post would at least acknowledge the incredible debt that I - and many many others - owe to this great Canadian institution.