Hubbard family gift elevates Vanderbilt’s economic policy research
In 2021, Al Hubbard, BA’69, and his wife, Kathy Hubbard, made a $2 million gift to endow the Hubbard Family Chair in the Department of Economics at the College of Arts and Science. The Hubbards’ gift helps support a faculty member whose research and teaching explore the application of economics to public policy and how to address U.S. policy challenges through market-oriented solutions.
“We are deeply grateful to Al and Kathy for their unwavering support of the College of Arts and Science,” said John Geer, the Ginny and Conner Searcy Dean of the College of Arts and Science and professor of political science. “The Hubbards have made an enduring commitment to high-impact scholarship by supporting Vanderbilt’s outstanding faculty. Their gift will help advance our understanding of economics, in general, and markets, in particular.”
Peter Rousseau, professor of economics and history, is the inaugural holder of the Hubbard Family Chair. A macroeconomist and economic historian, he studies the role of financial markets and institutions in growth and development. Rousseau also serves as chair of the Department of Economics, and his scholarship on U.S. and European monetary history has been widely published.
The Hubbards are longtime philanthropic partners of Vanderbilt and the College of Arts and Science. In addition to serving in several volunteer roles, they established the Elizabeth Beesley Hubbard Scholarship to support undergraduates in Arts and Science. The scholarship is named in honor of Al’s mother, a Vanderbilt alumna who graduated from the college in 1935.
“Vanderbilt has had a profound impact on my family, beginning with my dad and mom—she was a math major, and Madison Sarratt was her favorite professor—and through every generation after them, including three of their children, six grandchildren and one great grandchild,” Al Hubbard said. “My time at Vanderbilt was the greatest four years of my life. It gives us great pleasure to support a professor of economics who teaches the importance of free markets to solving public policy challenges. We are delighted that Peter Rousseau is the first holder of the chair.”
