The Letter-In-Life Award is the highest honor bestowed on a graduate by Pingry. It honors those who, by earning distinction in their careers, have brought honor to the School. Professor Mankiw received the award during Convocation for the 2024-25 school year.
The Alumni Association of The Pingry School presents this Letter-In-Life Award to N. Gregory Mankiw of the Class of 1976.
N. Gregory Mankiw is the Robert M. Beren Professor of Economics at Harvard University, where he was Chair of the Economics Department from 2012 to 2015 and where he has taught macroeconomics and principles of economics. After graduating from Pingry, he studied economics at Princeton University, where he graduated summa cum laude in 1980 with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics. He went on to receive a Ph.D. in Economics from MIT in 1984. In 1985, he joined the Harvard faculty, and in 1987 he became a full professor—at the young age of just 29.
Professor Mankiw is a prolific writer and an important and persistent presence in academic and policy debates. His research includes work on price adjustment, consumer behavior, financial markets, monetary and fiscal policy, and economic growth. He is the author of numerous published articles in academic journals, such as the American Economic Review, Journal of Political Economy, and Quarterly Journal of Economics. In addition to these esteemed journals, he has been published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, and Fortune. He has also published a widely read blog on economics since 2006. He has written two popular textbooks—the intermediate-level textbook Macroeconomics (Worth Publishers) and the introductory textbook Principles of Economics (Cengage Learning), the latter of which has sold over four million copies and has been translated into twenty languages—and even wound up being a clue on the popular television show Jeopardy!
As a macroeconomist who is widely known for his work on New Keynesian economics, Professor Mankiw is one of the most influential economists in the world. From 1982 to 1983, he was a staff member on the President’s Council of Economic Advisers under President Reagan, and in 2003, he was appointed by President George W. Bush and sworn into office as Chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers, a position he served on through 2005. His centrist approach became widely sought after, and in 2006 he was chosen as an economic adviser to then–Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney, and soon began working with him during his presidential campaigns in 2008 and 2012. He has been a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, an adviser to the Congressional Budget Office and the Federal Reserve Banks of Boston and New York, and a member of the ETS test development committee for the Advanced Placement exam in economics.
Professor Mankiw has been broadly recognized for his accomplishments, receiving many distinguished honors throughout his notable career. In 2007, he was elected as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious honorary societies, whose members are leaders with exceptional contributions to their fields and professions. Additionally, he has served as the president of the Eastern Economic Association and vice president of the American Economic Association. In 2017, he was honored by The Council for Economic Education with its Visionary Award. And in 2019, the esteemed Omicron Delta Epsilon, the international honor society for economics, awarded Professor Mankiw the biennial John R. Commons Award.
Professor Mankiw has remained connected to his Pingry roots, going out of his way to nurture emerging Pingry professionals who hope to make their own notable impact one day. In 2014, he was a featured speaker at a Pingry on Wall Street networking event, and in April of 2024, he spoke to students at a special assembly. In addition to hosting the 2018 and 2023 Nantucket Receptions with his wife at their home, in July of 2018, Professor Mankiw joined Pingry’s Board of Trustees. During his inaugural year, he served on the Finance Committee and attended Development Committee meetings. He has also served on the Benefits Task Force and Finance and Investment Committees. During his six years on the Board, from which he just retired on June 30, 2024, he was an integral part of Pingry’s continued growth and success.
Through his esteemed achievements as a professor, economist, author, academic, and notable thought leader, N. Gregory Mankiw has earned distinction. Through this distinction, he has brought honor to The Pingry School.
Proudly presented this sixth day of September 2024.
Professor Mankiw is pictured with Kathy Sartorius ’92, President of the Pingry Alumni Association
Contact: Sara Courtney, Communications Writer