Background
Phyllis was born Annie Rebecca Wallace in Calvert County, Maryland, on June 9, 1921 to John Wallace and Stevella Wallace.
- Photos
- Works
- Photos
- Works
Phyllis A. Wallace
Edit ProfileEducation
She attended a well ranked yet segregated high school, Frederick Douglass High School. After graduating, she went on to attend New York University, receiving a bachelor degree in economics in 1943., She later attended Yale University for graduate studies, earning a master"s degree in 1944 and a Doctor of Philosophy in 1948.
Career
Her work tended to focus on racial, as well as gender discrimination in the workplace. A mix of encouragement from her Yale economist professor and work at a federal-defense agency made her decide to pursue a career in international economics. Her work began studying economic growth in the Soviet Union, but later transferred to a focus in workplace economics, joining the senior staff of Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) in 1965.
She became a voice for anti-discrimination in the workplace, and was an important part of the anti-workplace-discrimination contingencies of the Civil Rights Acting of 1964.
Her work shifted again towards economic issues with urban minority youth when she began working for Metropolitan Applied Research (Machine-Readable Cataloging). Wallace joined the faculty of Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1972 as a visiting professor, and was tenured as full professor in 1974, in the Sloan School.
Achievements
-
Phyllis A. Wallace was the first African American and the first female president of the Industrial Relations Research Association. She also garnered several awards for her accomplishments, including National Economic Association"s Westerfield Award in 1981, and awards from several universities, including Yale (1980) and Brown (1986).
