Former Federal Reserve Board Governor and McCourt Professor Recognized With Prestigious Academic Achievement Award
McCourt School Professor Adriana Kugler is the recipient of the 2025 American Society of Hispanic Economists Academic Achievement Award for her significant contributions to economic research.
The McCourt School of Public Policy is pleased to announce that Adriana Kugler, public policy and economics professor and former member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, has been named the recipient of the 2025 American Society of Hispanic Economists (ASHE) Academic Achievement Award. This honor recognizes individuals who make significant contributions to the field of economics and whose research advances the goals of ASHE.
A leading voice in economics, Kugler has devoted her career to advancing understanding of labor market and trade policies and their impacts on inequities in employment and earnings, including those affecting Latino workers. Her research also examines the economic impacts of immigration and the assimilation of immigrants in areas such as health and education. She is also a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and a research fellow at both the Centre for Economic Policy Research and the Stanford Center for Poverty and Inequality.
“I am honored and thrilled to receive the 2025 Academic Achievement Award from ASHE, of the American Economic Association,” says Kugler. “I look forward to continuing to do rigorous and meaningful work that addresses both the economic contributions and challenges of Hispanics.”
Kugler earned her Ph.D. in economics from the University of California, Berkeley, and a joint B.A. in economics and political science from McGill University. She has been published in leading journals, and her scholarship has been widely cited in academic literature and the media. Kugler served as chair and chair-elect of the Business and Economics section of the American Statistical Association in 2019 and 2020. Between 2013-2016, she was Georgetown University’s vice provost for faculty. In 2010, she was awarded the first-place prize for best contribution in “Globalization, Regulations and Development” from the Global Development Network, and in 2007, Kugler received the John T. Dunlop Outstanding Scholar Award from the Labor and Employment Relations Association.
In addition to her scholarly contributions, Kugler has served in three senior federal policy roles, two of them Senate-confirmed and is the first Hispanic to serve as Governor of the Federal Reserve Board, U.S. Executive Director at the World Bank and Chief Economist at the U.S. Department of Labor.
McCourt School of Public Policy Whittington Lecture with Adriana Kugler, Federal Reserve Board of Governors.
She was named among Barron’s 100 Most Influential Women in U.S. Finance in 2024 and 2025, and listed among Bloomberg Línea’s Top 500 Most Influential People of Latin America in 2023. Additionally, she received the Chase Award from the U.S. Department of the Treasury for her leadership and contributions to the Multilateral Development Banks’ Evolution.
Kugler will be recognized at the ASHE Business Meeting during the 2026 American Economic Association’s annual conference in Philadelphia.