Name Phyllis Wallace | ||
Died 1993Boston, Massachusetts Institutions City College of New YorkNational Bureau of Economic ResearchAtlanta University (1953-57)Central Intelligence AgencyEqual Employment Opportunity Commission (1965-69)Metropolitan Applied Research Center (1969-72)Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1972-86) Awards National Economic Association's Westerfield Award (1981) | ||
Phyllis A. Wallace (1921–1993) was a distinguished African American economist and activist, as well as the first woman to receive doctorate of economics at Yale University. Her work tended to focus on racial, as well as gender discrimination in the workplace.
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Early life
Phyllis was born Annie Rebecca Wallace in Calvert County, Maryland, on June 9, 1921 to John Wallace and Stevella Wallace. She attended a well ranked yet segregated high school, Frederick Douglass High School. After graduating, she went on to attend New York University, receiving a bachelor's degree in economics in 1943., She later attended Yale University for graduate studies, earning a master's degree in 1944 and a PhD in 1948. A mix of encouragement from her Yale economist professor and work at a federal-defense agency made her decide to pursue a career in international economics.
Career
Her work began studying economic growth in the Soviet Union, but later transferred to a focus in workplace economics, joining the senior staff of Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in 1965. She became a voice for anti-discrimination in the workplace, and was an important part of the anti-workplace-discrimination contingencies of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Her work shifted again towards economic issues with urban minority youth when she began working for Metropolitan Applied Research (MARC).
Wallace joined the faculty of MIT in 1972 as a visiting professor, and was tenured as full professor in 1974, in the Sloan School.
Achievements
Phyllis A. Wallace was the first African American and the first female president of the Industrial Relations Research Association. She also garnered several awards for her accomplishments, including National Economic Association's Westerfield Award in 1981, and awards from several universities, including Yale (1980) and Brown (1986).