Elinor Ostrom

Distinguished Professor and Arthur F. Bentley Professor of Political Science

Indiana University, Bloomington

Professor Ostrom received a Ph.D. in political science from UCLA in 1965. She came to IU in 1966 as Assistant Professor, became Associate Professor in 1969, Professor in 1974, and Chair of the department from 1980-84. She is Co-Director of the Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis since 1973 and Professor, part-time, School of Public and Environmental Affairs since 1984. She is also Founding Director of the Center for the Study of Institutions, Population, and Environmental Change at Indiana University and the Center for the Study of Institutional Diversity at Arizona State University.

She was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in spring, 1991, and a member of the National Academy of Science in 2001. She is Past President of the American Political Science Association and has been the President of the Public Choice Society, the Midwest Political Science Association, and the International Association for the Study of Common Property. She is a member of the American Philosophical Society and the Association for Politics and Life Sciences.

Professor Ostrom was awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters from the University of Michigan (2006), the Cozzarelli Prize from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2006), an Honorary Doctorate in Commemoration of Carl Linnaeus from Uppsala University (2007), and an Honorary Doctorate from Humboldt University (2007).

Professor Ostrom has served on numerous advisory boards including the International Association of Chiefs of Police; Law Enforcement Assistance Administration; National Academy of Public Administration; National Advisory Committee on Criminal Justice Standards and Goals; National Sheriffs'' Association; and National Science Foundation.

She has authored or co-authored the following books: Understanding Knowledge as a Commons: From Theory to Practice (2007); Understanding Institutional Diversity (2005); The Samaritans' Dilemma (2005); Trust and Reciprocity: Interdisciplinary Lessons from Experimental Research (2003); Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action (1990).

In December 2009, Professor Ostrom received the prestigious Nobel Prize in Economics for decades of research that challenges the belief that common property is always poorly managed and should be regulated by the state or privatized.

Home: (812) 332-9821; Office: (812) 855-0441; Fax: (812) 855-3150; E-mail: ostrom@indiana.edu
WWW: http://www.indiana.edu/~workshop/