Janet Yellen, Bernard T. Rocca Professor of International Trade at the Haas School, has been confirmed by the US Senate as the new chair of the President's Council of EconomicAdvisers (CEA). Yellen formerly served as a governor of the Federal Reserve System and has been on leave from the Haas School since 1994.

Yellen's work includes major contributions in international economics, macroeconomics, microeconomics, labor economics, and the economics of social policy. Her writing has often focused on federal economic policy issues. Her three years at the Federal Reserve have increased her already considerable knowledge of international monetary and financial markets.

"The CEA has the responsiblity to advise the president across a vast array of economic policy areas," said Professor David Levine, who formerly served as a senior economist on the council. "Few economists have contributed so much toward the understanding of so many key policy issues."

Yellen's style was described by Professor Andrew Rose as "collegial, persuasive, and effective. I know she made a great impression as a Federal Reserve Governor, and I'm sure her light will shine even more brightly at the council. It's truly an inspired choice."

As head of the council Yellen follows in the footsteps of Haas Professor Laura D'Andrea Tyson, the President's first chair of the CEA and later chair of the National Economic Council. This is the 11th appointment by President Clinton of a UC Berkeley faculty member to a senior economic policy position in the administration.

A former faculty member at Harvard University and the London School of Economics, Yellen has twice won the Earl F. Cheit Award for Excellence in Teaching. She graduated summa cum laude from Brown University in economics in 1967 and received her Ph.D. in economics from Yale University in 1971.