Henry T. Buechel Awards

The Henry T. Buechel Memorial Endowment was established to provide an award for an outstanding instructor in the Department of Economics at the University of Washington. It is presented annually at the department graduation celebration as the Henry T. Buechel Award for Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching. This award was established in 1972 by Henry Buechel’s friends and family to honor and encourage other outstanding teachers. Professor Buechel joined the UW faculty in 1942 and was widely considered one of the most inspiring educators on campus. 

Professor Buechel was born in Washington state in 1908, received most of his early education in Newport, and graduated from high school in 1925. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Education with honors from Washington State College (WSC, now Washington State University) in 1929 and his Master’s degree in Economics from WSC in 1936. He went on to a special session Advance Study in Economics at the University of Washington, and earned his Ph.D. in Economics at the University of Wisconsin in 1949.

Professor Buechel taught for a time at the junior high and junior college level and then taught at WSC in 1940. From 1941-1970 he taught Economics at UW. In February 1970, he won national acclaim for not allowing disrupters to take over his class. After national news attention, he received a letter from President Nixon, praising him for defending his right to teach in his own classroom. He met his wife Aurelia Chiara in 1936 while working on his Master’s degree in Pullman, where she was an elementary teacher, and they married in 1939. Professor Buechel was a severe mid-life-onset diabetic, and died of vascular complications in 1972.


Henry T. Buechel Award for Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching

  • 2022 Elaina Rose
  • 2021 Greg Ellis
  • 2020 Dong-Jae Eun 
  • 2019 Phil Brock
  • 2018 Xu Tan
  • 2017 Melissa Knox
  • 2016 Dennis O’Dea
  • 2015 Yu-chin Chen
  • 2014 Haideh Salehi-Esfahani
  • 2013 Greg Ellis
  • 2012 Oksana Leukhina
  • 2011 Neil Bruce
  • 2010 Michael Hadjimichalakis
  • 2009 Michelle Turnovsky
  • 2008 Larina Davis
  • 2007 Jacques Lawarrée
  • 2006 Philip Brock
  • 2005 Yu-chin Chen
  • 2004 Greg Ellis
  • 2003 Robert Halvorsen
  • 2002 Haideh Salehi-Esfahani
  • 2001 Richard Hartman
  • 2000 Eric Zivot
  • 1999 Eugene Silberberg
  • 1998 Theo Eicher
  • 1997 Neil Bruce
  • 1996 Elaina Rose
  • 1995 Michael Hadjimichalakis
  • 1994 Fahad Khalil
  • 1993 Judith Thornton
  • 1992 Hart Hodges
  • 1991 David Rich
  • 1990 Darlene Chisholm
  • 1989 Paul Fishman
  • 1988 Frank Rusco
  • 1987 Caroline Leigh Anderson
  • 1986 Mark P. Thompson and Michael R. Caputo
  • 1985 Michael Frantantuono

Henry T. Buechel Award for Distinguished Undergraduate Service

  • 2021 Haideh Salehi-Esfahani
  • 2020
  • 2019 Jacob LaRiviere
  • 2018
  • 2017 Christina Tapia
  • 2016 Greg Duncan
  • 2015
  • 2014
  • 2013
  • 2012
  • 2011 Ahna Kotila
  • 2010
  • 2009 Neil Bruce
  • 2008 Greg Ellis
  • 2007
  • 2006 Judy Thornton
  • 2005 Gene Silberberg and Haideh Salehi-Esfahani
  • 2004 Richard Hartman
  • 2003 Michelle Turnovsky
  • 2002
  • 2001
  • 2000
  • 1999
  • 1998 Paul Heyne
  • 1997
  • 1996
  • 1995
  • 1994
  • 1993
  • 1992 Geoffrey Black
  • 1991
  • 1990
  • 1989
  • 1988 Douglas Allen
  • 1987
  • 1986 Michael R. Caputo

Henry T. Buechel Memorial Graduate Fellowship

  • 2022 Rajarshi Datta, Wendao Xue, and Jeewon Park
  • 2021 Hae Yun Choung, Jorge Rivero, and Kyongjun Kwak
  • 2020 Hyeonseok Park and Qifan Huang
  • 2019 Shuo Jiang and Hee Jung (Kathy) Jung
  • 2018 Dmitry Brizhatyuk and Justin Downs 
  • 2017 Yurim Lee and Xuetao Shi
  • 2016 Daisoon Kim and Anthony Sanford
  • 2015 David Oxborrow and Inhwan So
  • 2014 Yangguang Huang and Kemal Ozhan
  • 2013 Emre Ayler and Woo Hyung Hong
  • 2012 Yufan Huang, Sui Luo, and Alice Su
  • 2011 Ranganai Gwati and Daeyong Lee
  • 2010 Ecrument Cahan
  • 2009
  • 2008 Juyoung Cheong, Pym Manopimoke, Serpil Tekin, and Edwin Wong
  • 2007 Sebastian Fossati, Pisut Kulthanavit, and Alan van der Hilst
  • 2006 Saraswata Chaudhuri, Christian Henn, and Yunmi Kim
  • 2005 Abul Basher, Jun Ma, and Wei-Choun Yu
  • 2004 Kazi Iqbal and Krisztina Nagy
  • 2003 Erika Guylas, Sung-Ho Yun, Limu Nai, and Yun Mi Kim
  • 2002 Hoon Han and Mihaela Pintea
  • 2001 Kwongwook Choi and Srobona Mitra
  • 2000 Yasukazu Ichino
  • 1999 Lorne Johnson
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