THIS NEXT BIO POSTING SHOWS HOW SOME OF US HAVE THE AMAZING CAPACITY TO REMEMBER!

THIS BIO COMES FROM

BARBARA SWAN (NOW SPENCER) IN CANADA:

All my school life, from 1951 when I entered the “Transitions” class until completing the Leaving Certificate in 1962 was spent at Telopea Park (although part of the time it was called Forrest Primary). I very much enjoyed my initial time at school, particularly after I met Ruth Whitrod (now Blackburn) in 2^nd class. Third class was rocky since I was singled out by Mr McShane for punishment, but he relented in 4^th class by putting me into a school play, which involved many pleasant hours “working” outside away from the tedious repetition in the class. Does anyone remember the play? I also played in the school band at assembly, which was fun in itself, but also meant that I did not have to march, military style, to the classroom. I was a very diligent student, but my fondest memories are escaping to make tea for the staff in 5^th class and being given the freedom with six or seven other students in 6^th class to leave the classroom for many afternoons. I went to the library, played my recorder or just wandered around.

Only two or three months after starting at TPHS, I was again delighted to be able to escape.  My father, Trevor Swan, had been appointed by MIT to work on India’s five year plan. As a result, I spent 10 months exploring the U.S., Europe and Asia with three month stops in Boston and New Delhi. This trip greatly expanded my understanding of the world, including the problems from poverty in India, but left me severely behind in my school work, particularly Math and French.  Indeed, I failed French every year, until the Leaving Certificate, where I somehow managed to get an A and even pass the oral. The teaching of French was not always good. I wonder if anyone else remembers that in class 3A, the French teacher (I am not sure of her name) seemed poor at speaking French and, even worse, was not able to control the class. She rushed around the room trying the catch students making animal noises!  A couple of years after leaving school, I saw her in a typing class.

My plan in 5^th year was to study Chemistry at University, but I had dropped Physics after 3^rd year and I started to question this plan after Mr McGann (a respected and charismatic teacher who had taught me Math since 2^nd year) advised me not to take more Math since I would likely not be able to handle it. Since I liked doing Math, I decided to ignore this advice and eventually completed majors in Economics, Statistics and Mathematics at the ANU.  My time at the ANU was really enjoyable. I was very surprised to find how easy it was to do well (even in Math), while studying a lot less than in my last years at TPHS. I took weekends off for bushwalking and skiing and made a number of close friends. After winning the prize for the top student in Economics in my third year, I decided to do a Master’s degree in Econometrics at Monash University.

 

While at Monash,  I married Hugh Spencer, who I had met at the ANU. As a result, my life took a dramatic change. Hugh had the opportunity of doing a PhD in Neurophysiology at the University of Manitoba in Canada. We arrived in Winnipeg in late December 1969. It was so cold and flat and desolate looking that I thought I had arrived on the moon by mistake. I had no boots, only sandals, and my feet nearly got frostbite as I got off the plane at 30 below zero on the open tarmac. I later grew to appreciate aspects of Winnipeg, including the friends I made, but it was hard to adjust to the cold. 

On arrival in Winnipeg I was lucky to get a job as a part-time lecturer in Economics at the University of Manitoba, but the pay was very low. In the first year, I remember living mostly on refried beans. We later froze vegetables from the short harvest period and every few months, I would buy a 60lb bag of oats (meant for horses) and make large quantities of granola. The situation improved after I published a number of papers and gained a position as Assistant Professor in 1974. 

My pay and position had risen, but I realized that to be taken seriously in Economics, I needed a PhD.  I also needed a change because Hugh and I had broken up shortly after he finished his PhD. (Hugh and I still keep in touch. He is now a “guru” of the environmental movement, running his own research lab and the Bat House at Cape Tribulation in the rainforests north of Cairns). In September 1976, I enrolled at what is now the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, where I was offered a top scholarship and where I could join my younger brother, Richard Swan, who was doing a PhD in Computer Science. I was very fortunate to be supervised by Ed Prescott, who in 2004 won the Nobel Prize in Economics. Ed gave me a lot of his time and also let me skip a year of courses so as to take the PhD exams early (yet another escape from class work!). I immersed myself in learning a lot more math so as to be able to create mathematical models that captured the economic issues I was interested in.

After defending my dissertation at the end of 1978, I took a visiting position at Queens University in Kingston, Ontario and then moved to Boston College in 1980, where I was treated exceptionally well. My research, particularly those papers concerned with international trade policy, started to gain some attention, leading to my appointment as a Research Associate with the NBER (National Bureau of Economic Research).The NBER has kept me well connected with the top people and current research in International Economics over many years. 

While at Queens, I had met Jim Brander, who was a new Assistant Professor with a PhD from Stanford. Jim and I wrote a number of joint papers and in 1985, my life changed again: Jim and I decided to get married. I moved to what is now the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia so as to join Jim and we are still there. We have one lovely daughter, Cathy, who is now a young adult, but she needs full time care due to some severe developmental problems and will continue to live with us at home as long as our health allows.  

Perhaps the pinnacle of my career was becoming President of the Canadian Economics Association in 2004/5. However, I am particularly happy that I was able to renew my connection to the ANU through my appointment to the ANU College of Business and Economics Hall of Fame in 2005 and also play a small part in my father’s legacy by giving a Public Lecture in the Trevor Swan Distinguished Lecture Series at the ANU in 2007. One of the attached pictures is unhappily much better than I currently look, since it was taken for the ANU in 2005. The other picture of me with a gorgeous puppy was taken recently. Since I am still enjoying teaching and research, I don’t plan to retire until I am at least 70. 

WE HOPE THAT MANY OF YOU OUT THERE ARE FEVERISHLY SCRIBING AWAY ON YOUR BIOS AND GETTING PHOTOS TAKEN.