ECONOMICS
Invested in Africa’s Economic Development
Elizabeth Asiedu
Title: Associate Professor and Director of the Master’s Program, Department of Economics, University of Kansas
Education: Ph.D., Economics, and M.S., Economics
and Mathematics, University of Illinois; B.S., Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Ghana
Age: 41
America’s heartland gave Dr. Elizabeth Asiedu a warm welcome when she arrived at the University of Kansas as its first Oswald Scholar. The honor was accompanied by generous discretionary funds for her research in theoretical economics.
Since that day in 2003, the place and its people “have embraced me and my family and nurtured my academic career,” says the native of Ghana. Now a tenured professor, Asiedu is widely regarded as a rising star for her work on the relationship between foreign investment in African countries and their economic development.
“She’s already become prominent in her field, contributing to the academic literature,” says her department chair, Dr. Joseph Sicilian. “We’re very proud of her and glad to have her in our department.”
Despite being an African in Kansas and working amid mostly male colleagues, Asiedu says she’s never felt isolated.
