CGrADS Site Visit Participant - Malcolm Gillis

Professional Preparation

Malcolm Gillis
President, Rice University, and
Professor of Economics

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Biography

Malcolm Gillis spent the first twenty-five years of his professional life teaching economics and bringing economic analysis to bear on important issues of public policy in nearly twenty countries, from the U.S. and Canada to Ecuador, Colombia, Ghana, and Indonesia. Since 1986, his career has been devoted primarily, but not exclusively, to university leadership.

His research and teaching activities fall into two broad classes of national and international issues: fiscal reform and environmental policy. He has published over 70 articles in journals. He is author, co-author, or editor of eight books, including a widely acclaimed 1988 publication, Public Policies and the Misuse of Forest Resourcesand Tax Reform in Developing Countriespublished in 1989, and the leading textbook in its field, Economics of Development (4th edition), now available in five languages.

His record also involves substantial service to his profession, to governments, to foundations, and hospitals. These include five years as co-editor of the oldest economics journal, theQuarterly Journal of Economics,two years as a member of the Governor's Council of Economic Advisers for the State of Alaska, three years as a member of the Visiting Committee for the Energy Division of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, board member of the American Forestry Association, and for several years a member of the international Advisory Committee for Hainan Province, China. In 1990-91, he chaired the Economic Future Commission for the Governor and General Assembly of the State of North Carolina. In 1992-93 he also served on the board of the North Carolina Air Cargo Authority and as a member of the Government Performance Audit Committee for the North Carolina Legislature. He is a life member of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. He is a member of Boards of Trustees of the Foundation for Hospital Art, and the Foundation for Chilean Education. He serves as a board member of the National Council for Science and the Environment, the Houston Advanced Research Center, the Greater Houston Partnership, St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital, AMIGOS de las Americas, the Houston Symphony, Texas Aviation Hall of Fame and Museum, the Houston Technology Center, and AECOM Technology Corporation. He is a director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. He was on the Advisory Board of Texas Commerce Bank from 1993-98. He has served as a member of the Executive Committee and the chair of the Tax Committee of the Association of American Universities. In 1989, he was Distinguished Fulbright Professor, Catholic University of Chile. In 1999 he was elected a director of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation and to the Business and Higher Education Forum.

At Duke University he chaired a successful curriculum reform, enacted in 1987. He was chair of the Editorial Advisory Board of the Duke University Press. From 1986 to July 1991, Dr. Gillis was dean of the graduate school and vice provost for academic affairs. He served as dean of the faculty of Arts and Sciences at Duke from 1991-93.

He was co-founder and chair of the Board of Trustees of the Center for World Environment and Sustainable Development; he was also co-founder of the Duke Center for Tropical Conservation in 1988. In 1997, he was named to the National Academy of Sciences Board on Sustainable Development.

Until assuming leadership roles in University administration he was a frequent consultant to the state of Alaska, the U.S. Treasury Department, the Canadian Ministry of Finance, the World Bank, the Agency for International Development, the Ford Foundation, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Governments of Colombia, Ecuador, and Bolivia, and the Government of Indonesia, where he conducted studies leading to a fundamental reform of the entire tax system in 1983.

A native of Marianna, Florida, Professor Gillis received his A.A. from Chipola Junior College, his B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of Florida, and his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois. He holds an honorary Doctor of Laws from Rocky Mountain College. His first academic position was as an assistant professor of economics at Duke University, followed by a 15-year stint at Harvard. He returned to Duke in 1984 as professor of economics and of public policy. In 1990, he was named Z. Smith Reynolds Distinguished Professor in Public Policy. In July of 1993 Professor Gillis became the sixth president of William Marsh Rice University.

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Selected Publications:

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