Katherine Baicker Named Seventh Winner of Heinz Dissertation Award

For Immediate Release: January 14, 1999

Contact:Jill Braunstein at(202) 452-8097

Washington, DC – The National Academy of Social Insurance is pleased to announce Katherine Baicker as the winner of the seventh annual John Heinz Award. Ms. Baicker wrote her dissertation, “A Fiscal Federalism and Social Insurance”, while a student at Harvard University. She now teaches at Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH. The award, which includes a $1,000 prize, will be presented during the National Academy of Social Insurance 11th Annual Conference which is scheduled for January 27-28, 1999 in Washington, DC. Academy President John Palmer and Award Committee Chairman Joseph F. Quinn, Boston College, will make the award presentation. The award is supported by the Teresa and John H. Heinz Fund of the Heinz Family Foundation.

The award is issued in honor of Senator John Heinz. As a member of the Senate Finance Committee he helped chart the Social Security rescue effort in 1983 and worked tirelessly to insulate the Social Security Trust Funds from the rest of the Federal budget. John Heinz was a leading expert in the Senate on private pensions, and health care and aging policy and was a member of the Academy’s Board of Advisors from the organization’s inception in 1986. Robert M. Ball, Founding Chair, said, “John Heinz was a leading proponent of Social Security with a true appreciation of the value of social insurance principles in developing public policy. He was a true supporter of the National Academy of Social Insurance and contributed importantly to its objectives. We are privileged to award this prize in his honor.”

Julie Berry Cullen, who wrote her dissertation, “Essays on Special Education Finance and Intergovernmental Relations”, while a student at MIT, and Alexandra Shields, who wrote her dissertation, “Medicaid Managed Care and Plan Performance: The Case of Pediatric Asthma”, while a student at Brandeis, won honorable mention for their dissertation, respectively. This award will continue to be presented annually. To obtain application forms and additional information, contact Suzanne Habbyshaw at the National Academy of Social Insurance, 1776 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Suite 615, Washington, DC 20036-1904, (202) 452-8097 or by Email: nasi@nasi.org

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The National Academy of Social Insurance is America’s only private, non-partisan resource center made up of the nation’s leading experts on social insurance. Its mission is to conduct research and enhance public understanding of social insurance, to develop new leaders, and to provide a nonpartisan forum for exchange of ideas on important issues in the field.