Several individuals have been particularly important to the Department's development and programming. Four of these are noted below; other names will follow.
Joseph J. Spengler, a founding professor of Duke University, was pivotal in building the Graduate Program in Economics. In 1934 he joined the faculty where he rapidly rose to international preeminence.
A member of the Duke faculty from 1925 until his retirement in 1966, Calvin Bryce Hoover served as chairman of the Department of Economics for twenty years, and from 1937 to 1946 was Dean of the Graduate School.
Arriving at Duke in 1976 after an illustrious career at the University of Chicago, H. Gregg Lewis helped move Duke from what was then a highly successful regional university toward one that competed more effectively in the arena of distinguished American universities.
Martin Bronfenbrenner towered over the discipline as a member of a fast-disappearing class of generalists and was Kenan Professor of Economics at Duke until his "retirement" in 1984.
