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Jennifer King
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For immediate release:
November 2, 2005

Carnegie Mellon Professor of Economics and Public Policy Wins Steven D. Gold Award for Contributions to Public Financial Management

Economics and Public Policy Professor Robert P. Strauss has been awarded the 2005 Steven D. Gold Award for his contributions to public financial management.

PITTSBURGH—Robert P. Strauss, professor of economics and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University's H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management, has been awarded the 2005 Steven D. Gold Award for his contributions to public financial management in the field of intergovernmental relations and state and local finance.

Strauss will receive the award Friday, November 4, at the awards breakfast of the Association for Public Policy and Management (APPAM) in Washington, D.C.

An expert on public financial policy and human resources, Strauss has worked at the federal, state and local levels. He received presidential pens for legislation he worked on at the U.S. Treasury and Joint Tax Committee of the U.S. Congress, and he received the U.S. Treasury's Exceptional Service Award. At the state level, Strauss rewrote West Virginia's state business tax system and has been involved in numerous state tax studies that have also resulted in major legislative change. His current research projects include the role of the federal individual income tax in health care reform, a benchmarking of the financial position of Pennsylvania's state and local government over the last 10 years, an analysis of the fairness of real estate assessments nationwide with a special focus on Allegheny County, and various aspects of education reform that include matters of governance and school board ethics, teacher quality and student performance.

"It is very gratifying to receive this award," Strauss said. "Steve Gold was a very positive force in state-federal fiscal relations, and the Center for the Study of the States that he created at SUNY-Albany continues to play an important role in informing the nation about the course of state and local finances, which are very important in our federal system."

Strauss is the 10th recipient of the award, which is given annually by APPAM, the National Conference of State Legislatures and the National Tax Association in memory of Steve Gold, a member of the three organizations whose career and life were tragically shortened by illness.

Professor Strauss' Web page, where his current papers may be found, is: www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/rs9f.