An economics professor was named a Distinguished Fellow of the American Economic Association recognizing his lifetime achievements in the discipline.

Northwestern announced Prof. Robert Gordon received the award on Tuesday. Gordon has worked at NU since 1973.  Gordon said he was very excited to win the award.

“It’s one thing to do research, but it’s another for someone else to say this really made a difference,” he said.

Gordon’s research focuses on unemployment, inflation and labor productivity and some of his most renowned work centers on economic growth. Gordon has been a member of the National Bureau of Economic Research’s Business Cycle Dating Committee for more than 30 years. The committee is responsible for determining the start and end dates for recessions in the United States.

Gordon’s father was named a Distinguished Fellow in 1972, and they are the first father-son pair to win the award since it was established in 1965. Gordon said he had always wanted to win the award.

“It was natural since I knew he had won it 42 years ago, I hoped to be awarded the same distinction,” he said. “Nobody likes to underperform their father.”

Distinguished Fellows are selected by the American Economic Association Nominating Committee and voting members of the Executive Committee.

Gordon is one of four Distinguished Fellows this year. Two of the other professors are from Harvard University and the third is from Princeton University.

The late Dale Mortensen, an economics professor, was also named a Distinguished Fellow in 2008.

(Northwestern prof, Nobel laureate Dale Mortensen dies at 74)

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