NEWS RELEASE
CONTACT:
JOE HUNTER
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BOSTON COLLEGE RECEIVES FIRST-OF-ITS-KIND, $5.25 MILLION SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION GRANT TO ESTABLISH NATIONAL RESEARCH CENTER ON RETIREMENT POLICY
(Chestnut Hill, Mass.) -- Boston College has been selected by the Social Security Administration as one of two universities in the nation to establish a research center to help set the agenda for reform of the nation's retirement system. Boston College will receive a five-year, $5.25 million grant from the Social Security Administration to establish a retirement policy research center based at BC's Carroll School of Management.
The first grants made through the Social Security Administration's Retirement Research Consortium program, the funds will support research that will exert a major influence on retirement policy decision making in both the public and private sectors. According to Social Security Commissioner Kenneth S. Apfel, the new centers are a crucial element in the Social Security Administration's strategy for meeting the future retirement needs of Americans.
"By 2030, the number of Americans over age 65 will double," said Apfel. "In order for the Social Security program to be prepared adequately to meet the needs of retired baby boomers, as well as future generations of Americans, we must know more about how retirees live, including economic, social, health and geographic concerns. Through the consortium, the Social Security Administration will be in a position to provide national leadership on retirement policy issues."
Directed by Dr. Alicia H. Munnell, the Peter F. Drucker Professor in Management Sciences at Boston College's Carroll School of Management and a former member of President Clinton's Council of Economic Advisers, the center will draw on the research and expertise of a cross-section of faculty at Boston College, including such scholars as Joseph Quinn, a professor in Boston College's Economics Department and a nationally recognized expert on the economics of aging.
In addition to involving scholars from other departments and schools at Boston College, the collaboration will extend to a number of affiliated institutions, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, among others.
"This grant is unprecedented," Professor Munnell noted. "It is the largest grant the Social Security Administration has ever given to support this kind of work. It will establish a critical base of ongoing academic research in support of policy making."
The grants were awarded on the basis of the recommendations of an expert review panel in a highly competitive process. Boston College and the University of Michigan, the other grant recipient, prevailed over prestigious and highly qualified applicant institutions from around the country.
"I am very pleased Boston College was selected for this grant and this important task," said John J. Neuhauser, Dean of the Carroll School of Management. "It represents a tremendous vote of confidence by the Social Security Administration that Boston College and the Carroll School of Management can play a critical role in solving the nation's trillion-dollar retirement problem."
Applauding the decision of the review panel and the Social Security Administration, Professor Munnell commented: "Boston College is an excellent and logical choice to host the new center because of its exceptional leadership in public policy issues, particularly those relating to retirement. Boston College has experts in many departments, including Economics, Sociology and Finance, who will bring a multidisciplinary approach the study of retirement policy. Through this grant, Boston College will play central role in the study of one of the issues that dominate the national agenda."
Along with conducting research in support of policy making, the center will host seminars, publish working papers and hold a joint conference on retirement issues with the University of Michigan. "A unique aspect of this project will be the link it forges between the academic and policy communities," Munnell emphasized.
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