In the continuing series, meet an economics Ph.D. alumnus/a, we have here an obituary for the Harvard Ph.D. (1955), Alice Bourneuf, whose career milestones included early work in the IMF through the building up the economics department at Boston College. Paul Samuelson counted her among Schumpeter’s circle of graduate students at Harvard in the 1930’s.
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Alice Bourneuf (1912-1980)
Boston College Obituary
Alice Bourneuf, professor emeritus, dies
Instrumental in shaping economics department
Alice E. Bourneuf, Boston College economics professor emeritus, died Dec. 7 in Boston after a long illness. Bourneuf, 68, was the first woman to hold a tenured professorate within the College of Arts and Sciences and was instrumental in making the department of economics the distinguished unit it is today.
President Monan was with Bourneuf in her final moments and was principal celebrant of a memorial Mass at the Chapel of the Most Blessed Trinity, Newton Campus, Dec. 13.
Bourneuf was born in Haverhill on Oct. 2, 1912. Her career in education and public service spanned four decades.
She graduated from Radcliffe in 1933 and continued her studies there, receiving the MA in 1939 and the PhD in 1955. An authority on national and international economies, her main fields of research and writing were macroeconomic theory, money and banking, public finance, business cycles, unemployment and investment.
She participated in the formulation of international monetary plans for the Federal Reserve Board in Washington, DC from 1942 to 1946. From 1946 to 1948 she conducted research on exchange rates and internal financial problems for the International Monetary Fund. She was senior economist for the Marshall Plan in Norway and France from 1948 to 1953.
After teaching at Mt. Holyoke College and the University of California at Berkeley, Bourneuf joined the BC economics department as a tenured full professor in 1959. She retired in 1977.
Recalling Bourneuf, Assoc. Prof. Harold Peterson (Economics) said she was “one of the two or three people who’ve had a profound influence on my life.” He spoke of how she “revolutionized” and “modernized” the economics program here, bringing in new faculty to help her accomplish the task.
“Hers was a constant struggle,” Peterson added. “She showed us immense courage, both in her life and in her death.”
Prof. Michael Mann (Economics) called Bourneuf “a towering figure at BC.” Mann said she was an inspiration not only to her immediate colleagues, but to the entire university and the community-at-large as well. “Alice set standards for academic integrity—for good work, quality work,” Mann said. “Even those who disagreed with her respected her opinions.”
“The economics department at Boston College is now well-known,” said Harvard economist Richard E. Caves. “It’s rise is primarily attributed to Alice Bourneuf.”
MIT economist Paul Samuelson called Bourneuf “a magnificent person and economist.” Recalling Bourneuf’s recruitment activities on behalf of BC, Samuelson said, “When Alice Bourneuf and (economics professor) Fr. Robert McEwen appeared at American Economic Association conventions, department heads quaked for the ivory they were hoarding.”
In 1976, BC established the Bourneuf Award, which is given annually to the outstanding undergraduate in the field of economics. Bourneuf also received honorary degrees from Boston College (1977) and Regis College (1975) and was the recipient of numerous fellowships and honors during her lifetime. In October 1979 the University dedicated Bourneuf House, offices of the academic vice president. Asked about the honor at that time, Bourneuf said, “I can’t believe it or understand it. They should have named it after some famous person.” She leaves four sisters, two brothers and 18 nieces and nephews.
Source: Boston College Biweekly, Volume 1, Number 8, 18 December 1980, pp. 1,4.
Image Source: Webpage “Breaking the Mold” at the World Bank/IMF website: The Bretton Woods Institutions turn 60.