Mount Kilimanjaro and Becoming an Economics Professor

March 14, 2019

“People had a hard time taking me seriously, because I’m sure they didn’t know any African-Americans who were economists,” said Lisa Cook, associate professor of economics and international relations at Michigan State University.

In this Women in Economics podcast, Cook described the unconventional path she took to becoming an economics professor. Her journey started with a random encounter on a climb up Mount Kilimanjaro and soon took her all over the country picking up prerequisites.

Cook also discussed some of the biases she faced as an African-American woman earning her Ph.D. and talked about her experience as the director of the American Economic Association Summer Training Program.

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