After four years at Northwestern, economics Prof. Lillian Kamal will be leaving to pursue what she said is “a tenure-track position at a university in the Northeast.”
Kamal began teaching at NU in Fall 2004, right after completing graduate school.
“Northwestern is a fantastic school,” she said. “This is a very supportive institution that builds its students and looks for ways to make their ideas thrive.”
She said she remembers having to defend her dissertation while teaching six classes her first year. But Kamal soon became popular for teaching Introduction to Macroeconomics, a large 300-person lecture in which she is known for learning all students’ names.
“She goes above and beyond the material that she presents as well as making an effort to actually get to know the students personally,” said Vasiliy Kuznetsov, one of Kamal’s current students. “In a huge Intro to Macro class, she knew almost everybody’s name, even though the class was over 100 people.”
Ian Savage, the associate chairman of the economics department and a member of the committee that originally brought Kamal to NU, said the professor has gone far beyond their expectations.
“She’s been clearly an outstanding instructor if you look at her CTEC evaluations and what the students say,” Savage said. “She exceeded our wildest hopes considerably.”
Kamal’s developmental economics classes would always give students a unique perspective given her background from Kenya and Southeast Asia, in addition to connecting with students on a personal level, Savage said.
“I think it’s allowed many students who many not have considered economics as a major to think that this might be a subject that is really interesting, the sort of thing that they may wish to study,” he said.
Kamal said her biggest accomplishment has not been something she has done herself. Instead, it is watching her students achieve, she said.
“I think this is true for any instructor at NU – our accomplishments are not what we do for ourselves, but rather what we see our students doing with the knowledge they gain from us,” she said.
Kuznetsov has taken two classes with Kamal, including Social Entrepreneurship this quarter. He said he wanted to take the Economics of Developing Countries with Kamal, but is sad he will not get the chance.
“She’s just a really, really interesting person to talk to because she knows so much,” Kuznetsov said.
Teaching Social Entrepreneurship was a highlight of Kamal’s time at NU, she said. When Kamal started teaching at the university, it was not a class offered to undergraduates.
“It is my sincere hope that this class will continue to be offered at NU and will go beyond being a tutorial and will be a full-fledged cross-major offering,” she said.
Kamal said she has also enjoyed working with the faculty at NU. She recounted a time when a flight was delayed due to weather, and another professor, Mark Witte, had to teach her class for her.
Still, she said the students are what have made NU special for her.
“Professors love the feeling of watching the students grow and work hard to go on to accomplished professional and academic careers,” she said. “So here’s to you, Northwestern.”
