Texas A&M University Institute for Advanced Study (TIAS) Faculty Fellow Professor Thomas Ulen will be collaborating with faculty-researchers at the law school and the College of Liberal Arts.

Through a very competitive and rigorous process, the TAIS selects 10 fellows annually “from among top scholars who have distinguished themselves through outstanding professional accomplishments or significant recognition,” according to Texas A&M Today. In referring to the outstanding credentials of the 2017 class of TIAS Fellows, Texas A&M University President Michael K. Young stated, “Fellows will sustain the extraordinary trajectory of TIAS, inspire truly transformative intellectual experiences among our students, and advance the international reputation of the Texas A&M research enterprise.”

TIAS Fellows have included Nobel Prize recipients and numerous members of the National Academies of Engineering and Sciences.

“It’s a great honor to be designated a faculty fellow of TIAS,” Ulen said. “I am eager to spend time in College Station interacting with those faculty fellows and speaking with the members of the several of the world-class departments there, such as those in the Department of Economics and the Bush School of Government and Public Service.”

Ulen is the Swanlund Chair Emeritus, one of the highest endowed chairs at the University of Illinois College of Law. He is a prolific author with one of his leading textbooks being translated into six languages. Ulen has also been a moving force in economics, inspiring researchers to use different methodologies, including economic and empirical analyses.  

“I am amazed by the fact that over the last 40 years law and economics has grown from a small niche field of study into a field that has brought insights to nearly every field of study within the law, is increasingly having an impact on legal education and the practice of law everywhere around the globe, and has probably greatly improved the practice of law in the United States,” he said.

He is a founding member of the American Law and Economics Association. He received his undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College, a Master’s of Arts degree from Oxford University and a Ph.D. from Stanford University.