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University of Notre Dame inducts Iyer into All-Faculty Team
At every Notre Dame home football game, the Office of the Provost honors a distinguished member of the faculty as part of the All-Faculty Team.
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Staff Reporter - Thu, 18, Sep 2025
- 17:31 EDT
- 9
Lakshmi Iyer. / University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame has inducted an Indian-origin economics professor, Lakshmi Iyer, into the All-Faculty Team, a group of seven faculty members recognized for their transformative contributions to Notre Dame and beyond.
The university provost, in accordance with tradition, recognized Iyer on the football field during the home team's match against Texas A&M University on Sept. 13.
Iyer, an economist by training serves as the academic director of the university's Building Inclusive Growth (BIG) Lab, which creates innovative, long-term solutions to help vulnerable populations in developing countries. Her work is consistent with Notre Dame's Poverty Initiative, a university-wide effort to make the world less tolerant of poverty by increasing knowledge about how to solve it.
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She conducts research on the intersection of history, politics, and economics, with a particular emphasis on Asia. Her most recent projects have investigated whether post-colonial policies can alter the long-term effects of historical institutions, when decentralization can improve education and health outcomes, and whether formal land rights can increase women's economic inclusion. Her new research focuses on the interplay between governance, global health, and natural resource management.
“Growing up in India during a period of economic liberalization, I saw how government policies can shape the economic and human development trajectory of a country. I was inspired to investigate why and how countries can make progress against poverty, and to identify historical, political, or social barriers to such progress," Iyer said.
"More than 800 million people still live in extreme poverty around the world. Poverty is not just an economic issue; it is a moral, political and social issue. I am privileged to be working with scholars across several disciplines at Notre Dame and beyond, to investigate how a diverse range of factors contribute to poverty, including history, political institutions, and the inclusion of women," she added.
Iyer's work has appeared in top economics and interdisciplinary journals. She teaches undergraduate, master's, and doctoral courses at the Department of Economics and the Keough School of Global Affairs. She holds Bachelor's and Masters degrees from the Indian Statistical Institute, and a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
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