Mayor Rahm Emanuel today announced the appointment of Austan D. Goolsbee to serve on the Chicago Board of Education. As a board member, Goolsbee will lend extensive experience as a prize-winning teacher and educator to expand quality opportunities across Chicago and help address issues facing the District.

"Austan has a lifetime of knowledge and leadership as an educator in Chicago, and will work tirelessly to improve our schools and fight for educational opportunities that support the unprecedented academic progress our students are making,” said Mayor Emanuel. “Our students deserve the absolute best, and he is inimitably qualified to further strengthen the Board of Education and lead the District into the future so that all families in every Chicago neighborhood can benefit." 

Goolsbee has built a distinguished career as an economist, a researcher and an educator. He is the Robert P. Gwinn Professor of Economics at The University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He previously served in Washington as the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers and as a member of President Obama’s cabinet. 

“The Chicago Public School system is the backbone of the Chicago economy and its workforce,” said Austan D. Goolsbee. “It has become perhaps the finest large urban school district in the nation. I am excited to work with Dr. Jackson and the entire Chicago community to make sure that it works for everyone. It is one of our crown jewels.” 

He has a strong track record of providing leadership on various boards and community-based organizations across Chicago, including with the Chicago Public Education Fund, Lumina Foundation, University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, University of Chicago, and Charter Schools Corporation. 

His research has earned him recognition as a Fulbright Scholar and an Alfred P. Sloan fellow. In prior years he was named one of the 100 Global Leaders for Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum, and one of the six "Gurus of the Future" by the Financial Times. Goolsbee serves on the Economic Advisory Panel to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and has previously served on the Panel of Economic Advisors to the Congressional Budget Office, the U.S. Census Advisory Commission and as a special consultant for Internet Policy to the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice. He joined Chicago Booth in 1995. 

His ability to explain economics clearly has made Goolsbee popular in the media. He has twice been named as a "star" professor by BusinessWeek's "Guide to the Best Business Schools." 

He earned his BA from Yale University and his PhD in economics from MIT. 

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