W. Allen Wallis

Wilson Allen Wallis (November 5, 1912 – October 12, 1998) was an American economist and statistician best known for serving as president of the University of Rochester.^[1] The Kruskal–Wallis one-way analysis of variance is named after him and William Kruskal.

Early years

Born in Philadelphia, he attended the University of Minnesota, Class of 1932, where he was a member of the Chi Phi Fraternity. After a year of graduate work at the University of Minnesota, he began studies at the University of Chicago in 1933, where he began what would prove to be lifelong friendships with Milton Friedman, Aaron Director and George Stigler.

In 1936–37, he served as an economist and statistician for the National Resources Committee. During World War II, Wallis was the director of research of the U.S. Office of Scientific Research and Development's Statistical Research Group (1942–46); he recruited a team of bright young economists, including Milton Friedman, to the Statistical Research Group.

From 1948 to 1954, Wallis served as the treasurer of the Mont Pèlerin Society.^[2]

University administration

Wallis served as dean of the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business from 1956 to 1962. During his time as dean he established the "Chicago Approach to Business Education," which involved the application of statistical methodology to business.^[3]

He became president of the University of Rochester in 1962, a position he held until 1970, when he became the University of Rochester's chancellor and chief executive. In 1975, he relinquished the job of chief executive, but remained chancellor of the university until his retirement in 1982.

In December 1992, the University of Rochester named a joint program of its Departments of Economics and Political Science in honor of Wallis: the W. Allen Wallis Institute of Political Economy at the University of Rochester.^[4] He died in 1998 in Rochester, New York.

January 1988 memo identifying Wallis as President Reagan's "personal representative" for policy matters during the administration's preparations for attending the 14th G7 summit in June.

Presidential advisor

In addition to his role as an academic and academic administrator, Wallis served as an advisor to U.S. presidents Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan. Under Eisenhower, he collaborated with Vice President Nixon on the report of the Cabinet Committee on Price Stability for Economic Growth (1959–61). Under Nixon and Ford, he served on the President's Commission on Federal Statistics and on the Advisory Council on Social Security. Nixon also appointed Wallis as chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a post he held 1975–78. Under Reagan, he served as Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs (1982–85), and then, after Congress changed the job description and title, as Under Secretary of State for Economic, Business, and Agricultural Affairs (1985–89).

Selected works

• Wallis, W. Allen; Moore, Geoffrey H. (1941), A Significance Test for Time Series and Other Ordered Observations., New York: National Bureau of Economic Research, OCLC 1876032 Cite uses deprecated parameter |coauthors= (help)
• Wallis, W. Allen; Churchill Eisenhart, Millard W Hastay (1947), Selected Techniques of Statistical Analysis for Scientific and Industrial Research and Production and Management Engineering, New York: McGraw-Hill, OCLC 490341075 Cite uses deprecated parameter |coauthors= (help)
• Wallis, W. Allen; Harry V. Roberts (1956), Statistics, a New Approach, Glencoe, Illinois: Free Press, OCLC 839651, retrieved 2009-12-30 Cite uses deprecated parameter |coauthors= (help)
• Wallis, W. Allen; James Tobin (1968), Welfare Programs: An Economic Appraisal, Washington, D.C.: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, OCLC 21672 Cite uses deprecated parameter |coauthors= (help)
• Wallis, W. Allen (1969), Abolish the Draft, Washington, D.C.: National Council to Repeal the Draft, OCLC 45712869
• Wallis, W. Allen (1976), An Overgoverned Society, New York: Free Press, ISBN 978-0-02-933710-3, OCLC 2352513

See also

• Kruskal–Wallis one-way analysis of variance

References

1. Pace, Eric (1998-10-14), "W. Allen Wallis, 85, Economist And President of U. of Rochester", The New York Times (New York), pp. A21, ISSN 0362-4331, retrieved 2009-12-30
2. R. M. Hartwell, A History of the Mont Pelerin Society, Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1995, pp. 66–7.
3. "Retired UR president Wallis dies", Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, New York), 1998-10-13, pp. 1B, ISSN 1088-5153
4. W. Allen Wallis Institute of Political Economy (1998-10-12). "W. A. Wallis". Rochester, New York: University of Rochester. Retrieved 2009-12-30.

External links

• W. Allen Wallis Institute of Political Economy website
• Records of W. Allen Wallis, Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library
• Appearances on C-SPAN