Alumni Profile
Dr. Grace Phillips
Dr. Grace Phillips, KU Class of 2017, now teaches at the University of Memphis but enjoys returning to Lawrence every chance she gets.
Phillips Now Teaching at University of Memphis
Working now in Memphis as an assistant professor, one very recent KU Economics Department alumnus (class of 2017), Dr. Grace Phillips, said that she nevertheless very much misses her days in Lawrence and returns to the KU campus as often as she can.
An applied microeconomist who specializes on the criminal justice system, labor economics and health economics, her research emphasizes the impact of public policy on inequality and vulnerable populations' economic, labor, health and incarceration outcomes. One line of work focuses on how state policy shapes mass incarceration (emphasizing recidivism outcomes for formerly incarcerated people); while a second line of work explores the social welfare implications of tobacco regulation, especially for vulnerable populations.
Dr. Phillips, who received her PhD from Cornell University in 2023, currently teaches courses on the economics of crime and microeconomics at Memphis’ prestigious Fogelman College of Business and Economics. She is currently co-authoring two fascinating NBER working papers, “The Impact of Pictorial Cigarette Warnings on Consumer Welfare: A Behavioral Cost-Benefit Analysis”; and “Understanding the Demand-Side of an Illegal Market: Prohibition of Menthol Cigarettes”.
She said that one of the more rewarding challenges she has had in her professional journey thus far occurred during her last year at Cornell when she taught college classes through Cornell Prison Education Program at Five Points Correctional Facility (a math class) and Auburn Correctional Facility (an economics class) to incarcerated men.
Her time in the KU Economics Department remains front and center in her recollections of her undergraduate experiences here in Lawrence.
“I've been so incredibly lucky to have the continued support and mentorship from people like David Slusky and Donna Ginther,” Dr. Phillips said. “As an undergraduate, they were both key in helping me to learn about PhD programs and apply for grad school. They were two of the first people I contacted after accepting my job at the University of Memphis - to thank them for all the support they've given me over the years. I even chaired a session for Donna at the Southern Economic Association meetings last fall.
“The Economics Department is also where I met several of my closest friends during my undergraduate years, one of whom, Eli Hymson, was the first person to visit me after I moved to Memphis. The other, John Olson, is finishing up his PhD at University of Michigan.
“William Duncan is also a good friend I made while at KU, and we gorged ourselves on beignets when we met up at SEA's conference in New Orleans,” she laughed.
Dr. Phillips said that she gets especially nostalgic about KU and Lawrence during March Madness.
“While the University of Memphis has a good basketball team, it's not quite the same as the fervor that takes over Lawrence during March. I especially missed Lawrence during March when I was at Cornell, partially because it was still regularly snowing in Ithaca, but mostly because basketball wasn't a big deal there. But when I was teaching at Five Points prison, I did have my students fill out a bracket for extra credit points.
So many other things I miss about KU and Lawrence in the spring, including the magnolias, dogwoods, and redbud trees. But I also desperately miss 1900 Barker Bakery. And it’s a similar story with the Merc, where I buy a full loaf of pumpkin break whenever I'm in town. My favorite thing to do when I'm back in town is to go downtown and on campus to walk around and see what has changed and what hasn't.”
Her many honors at KU included being named Phi Beta Kappa, a KU Global Scholar, and recipient of the Economics Department’s Arthur J. Boynton Award.