A statue of IU professor Elinor Ostrom now sits next to Woodburn Hall, home of the political science department.
Ostrom is the first woman to receive the Nobel Prize in economics. The new statue is next to a historical marker dedicated last year in honor of her ten-year Nobel anniversary.
A ceremony Thursday on the Bloomington campus also dedicated the area as the Ostrom Commons.
She passed away in 2012 leaving behind a legacy as one of the world’s leading scholars.
Senior Research Fellow and Ostrom colleague Michael McGinnis says her approach to academia wasn’t based on hierarchy, but teamwork.
“She wouldn’t be comfortable having the whole thing centered on her. She really wished that her husband Vincent could share the Nobel prize with her because they really were a team,” McGinnis said.
The statue is part of IU’s “Bicentennial Bridging the Visibility Gap” project that tells the stories of women and minorities in University history.
IU alumnus Michael McAuley worked nine months on the bronze sculpture. He previously created the Hoagy Carmichael Landmark Sculpture that sits near the IU Cinema.
Ostrom’s statue is the first of a woman on the IU Bloomington campus.
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