Professor Peter Child awarded 2004 Levitan Prize

The 2004 Levitan Prize in the Humanities has been awarded to Professor Peter Child of the Music and Theater Arts Section.

The $25,000 prize was established through a gift from James A. Levitan, a 1945 MIT graduate in chemistry, a member of the MIT Corporation, and Of-Counsel at the law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom of New York City. First awarded in 1990, the Levitan Prize supports innovative and creative scholarship in the humanities by SHASS faculty members.

A member of the MIT faculty since 1986, Child served as Chair of the section from 1996-1999. He received the BA from Reed College in 1975, and the PhD from Brandeis University in 1981. He plans to use the prize to continue work on his book, Tonal Music: An Introduction to Analysis, which examines western tonal music from 1600-1900.

Child's compositions have received many prizes, including awards from Tanglewood (Margaret Grant Memorial Prize, 1978), East and West Artists (First Prize, 1979), WGBH Radio (Recording Prize, 1980), New England Conservatory ('New Works' Prize, 1983), and League-ISCM, Boston (New England Composers Prize, 1983). Child's music spans many different genres, including music for orchestra, chorus, computer synthesis, voice, and a wide variety of chamber groups. His works have been performed by the John Oliver Chorale, the Pro Arte Orchestra, the Lydian String Quartet, New York New Music, the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, and many others.

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Professor Daron Acemoglu receives Charles P. Kindleberger Professorship

Professor of Economics Daron Acemoglu has been named the first holder of the Charles P. Kindleberger Professorship in Applied Economics.

A political economist who was named to the chair in March 2003, Acemoglu has made important contributions in the areas of economic theory, labor economics, and political economy. He received the MSc and PhD at the London School of Economics, and has been teaching at MIT since 1993. Recent work includes the study of the relationship between political structures, legal and market institutions, and a nation's long-run rate of economic growth.

The professorship was made possible through a generous gift from Ching Chih Chen, who studied with Kindleberger while completing the PhD in economics at MIT in the late 1960s. Chen, vice chairman of Central Trading and Development Group in Taiwan, paid tribute to his mentor at Kindleberger's memorial service in October of 2003, recalling his brilliant mind, his vision as an economist and teacher, and his willingness to "think out of the box." A professor at MIT from 1948–76, Kindleberger was an economic historian who played a central role in the creation of the Marshall Plan, and held positions in the Federal Reserve and the Office of Strategic Services.

Philip Khoury, dean of the School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, said of the appointment, "Daron Acemoglu is one of the most innovative, high-impact economists in the world today. His enormous creativity and his unusual ability to collaborate with a variety of economists and political scientists make him especially valuable to economics and the related social sciences at MIT. Like the late Professor Kindleberger, Daron's research has very wide appeal and range. He's a wonderful fit for the Kindleberger chair."

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