Dr. Edward J. Ray

Member, Academic Excellence & Economic Development Committee

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Dr. Edward J. Ray was appointed president of Oregon State University on June 5, 2003, and assumed the duties of the position on July 31, 2003. Prior to coming to Oregon State, Ray was senior vice president and provost and professor of economics at Ohio State University.

Dr. Ray was a member of the economics faculty at Ohio State since 1970. He served as economics department chair from 1976 to 1992, and received the University Distinguished Chairperson Award in 1989. Dr. Ray served as an associate provost from May 1992 until May 1993, senior vice provost and chief information officer from 1993-1998, and acting and then interim senior vice president and provost during 1997 and 1998.

His research interests include the history of protectionism in the United States, the determinants of U.S. foreign direct investment and foreign direct investment in the United States, the structure of tariff and nontariff trade barriers in the United States and abroad, the role of financial reform in economic development, the adoption of the income tax in the United States, the rise in military industrial complex and veterans pension spending, and the adoption of social security in the U.S.

Dr. Ray's research has been published in a number of leading economics journals, including The American Economic Review, The Journal of Political Economy, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, The Review of Economic Studies, The Review of Economics and Statistics, The Journal of Law and Economics, and the Journal of Economic History. He has co-authored a principles text. His book entitled "U. S. Protectionism and the World Debt Crisis" was published by Quorum Press in 1989.

He has had research support from the Department of Labor, Department of Commerce, U.S.A.I.D., and the Office of Technology Assessment. He has also been involved in collaborative research projects in the Dominican Republic and Egypt.

Dr. Ray received his undergraduate B.A. degree in mathematics from Queens College (CUNY) in June 1966, graduating cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. He earned his M.A. in economics from Stanford University in 1969 and his Ph.D. in economics from Stanford in June 1971.

His wife Beth was a counselor in the College of Arts and Sciences while at Ohio State. They have three grown children and two grandchildren.