Kerwin Charles is the Edwin A. and Betty L. Bergman Distinguished Service Professor and former interim Dean at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy.

His research focuses on a range of questions in labor and applied microeconomics. The topics he has studied include: racial and gender labor market discrimination, intergenerational wealth and earnings propagation, the effect of health shocks on family stability and labor supply, conspicuous consumption, and how sectoral shocks like manufacturing decline and housing booms and busts affect employment and human capital acquisition.

The W.S. Woytinsky Lecture is given by the recipient of the W.S. Woytinsky Lectureship Award. Provided through the generous donation of Emma S. Woytinsky in memory of her late husband, W.S. Woytinsky, the award recognizes a person who has contributed outstandingly in the broad field of economics.