Prof. Kanta Marwah poses in front of her equation.
By Karen Kelly
The newly dedicated boardroom in Carleton University’s Department of Economics is graced with decor that an economist can truly appreciate. Desk-sized sheets of yellowed graph paper, covered with numbers and symbols, have been framed for posterity.
To the knowledgeable, it is clearly an equation, which took then-PhD student Kanta Marwah two days to create in 1960, when she worked for future Nobel Laureate Lawrence Klein at the University of Pennsylvania.
Her Ph.D. thesis An Econometric Model of Price Behaviour of India was seminal, belonging to the first-generation econometric models of India. It ensured her spot as that university’s first female PhD.
And in 1967, she was hired as Carleton’s first female economics professor and later became the first female full professor in the Department of Economics. She taught students and conducted research for 35 years, publishing in the top tier journals, before her retirement in 2002 when she was named a distinguished research professor and professor emeritus of economics. Since her retirement Dr. Marwah has continued to support Carleton University through the creation of many scholarships and awards for students.
Prof. Kanta Marwah poses with Faculty Of Public Affairs Dean Brenda O’Neill and Chair of Economics Hashmat Khan.
A generous philanthropist, Dr. Marwah recently presented the Department of Economics with a gift of $100,000 to form the Dr. Kanta Marwah Initiatives Fund. It will support faculty and student research activities such as seminars, workshops, special lectures and courses. It is the largest private gift given directly to the department in its history, and in honour of this donation the department’s boardroom will now be called the “Dr. Kanta Marwah Seminar Room.”
“Dr. Marwah has many ‘firsts’ associated with her career which reflect her unique journey, achievements, and contributions to the department for more than 50 years,” says Hashmat Khan, Chair of the Department of Economics. “We have all been touched by her generosity. Her gift will help further enhance our seminar series and support research activities of current and future generations of economists here in the department.”
Thursday, January 26, 2023 in Department of Economics, News
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