The Log | School News

Award-Winning Economist Jeff Vincent Joins the Nicholas School as Korstian Professor

Jeff Vincent, an award-winning economist widely cited for his research and policy expertise on natural resource and environmental management in developing countries, has joined the Nicholas School as the first Clarence F.Korstian Professor of Forest Economics and Management.

Vincent came to the Nicholas School from the University of California at San Diego,where he was a professor of environmental and resource economics in the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies. He also served as research director for international environmental policy at the University of California’s systemwide Institute of Global Conflict and Cooperation.

The Korstian chair was endowed in 2002 through a combined gift of $1 million from two longtime Nicholas School families, the Tukmans and Sullivans. Their gift was augmented by the Nicholas Faculty Leadership Initiative for a total commitment of $1.5 million.

The Sullivan family—Raymond E. Sullivan T’26, James Madison “Matt” Sullivan, John Vance Sullivan MF’86, and James Blake Sullivan MF’89—are stalwart supporters of forestry at Duke. The elder Sullivan’s will created the Raymond E. Sullivan Trust, which continues to support the Nicholas School.Matt Sullivan established the John and Blake Sullivan Endowment Fund in 1987 for the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies in honor of his sons.

The Tukman family—Mel and Lois Tukman and Mark Lee Tukman F’95—issued the challenge for a professorship in forestry following Mark Lee’s experience as a graduate student at the school.

The Korstian professorship is named for Clarence F. Korstian,who served as the first director of Duke Forest and the first dean of the Duke School of Forestry.

Vincent is especially known for his expertise on natural resource management in the emerging economies of Asia. He is the lead author of Environment and Development in a Resource-Rich Economy: Malaysia Under the New Economic Policy (Harvard Studies in International Development, 1997) and the co-editor of the Handbook of Environmental Economics (North-Holland, 2002).He also is the author of dozens of peer-reviewed articles in economics, development, and forestry journals.

In 2003, he received the McKinsey Award for the most significant article published that year in the Harvard Business Review.

In addition to his research,Vincent has extensive experience on policy advising and capacity-building projects sponsored by the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank,USAID, the U.N.Commission for Sustainable Development, the U.N.Development Program, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, and other international organizations.

Prior to his years at UCSD,Vincent was a fellow at the Harvard Institute for International Development from 1990 to 2001, and an assistant professor at Michigan State University from 1987 to 1990.

He received a PhD in 1988 from Yale University, a master of science degree in 1984 from Michigan State University, and a bachelor of arts in social anthropology in 1981 from Harvard University.