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W. Allen Wallis
2nd Chancellor of the University of Rochester
In office 1970–1982
Preceded by	Ira Harris
1st CEO of the University of Rochester
In office 1970–1975
Succeeded by	Robert L. Sproull
6th President of the University of Rochester
In office 1962–1970
Preceded by	Cornelis W. de Kiewiet
Succeeded by	Robert L. Sproull
10th Under Secretary of State for Economic and Agricultural Affairs
In office September 23, 1982 – January 20, 1989
Preceded by	Myer Rashish
Succeeded by	Richard T. McCormack
Personal details
Born	(1912-11-05)November 5, 1912 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died	October 12, 1998(1998-10-12) (aged 85) Rochester, New York, U.S.
Political party	Independent (until 1984) Republican (1984–1998)
Spouse	Anne Armstrong
Children	Nancy Wallis Ingling Virginia Wallis Cates
Parent(s)	Wilson Dallam Wallis, Grace Steele Allen
Education	University of Minnesota University of Chicago
Profession	Administrator

Wilson Allen Wallis (November 5, 1912 – October 12, 1998) was an American economist and statistician who served as president of the University of Rochester. He is best known for the Kruskal–Wallis one-way analysis of variance, which is named after him and William Kruskal.

Early years

Born in Philadelphia, he attended the University of Minnesota, Class of 1932, where he was a member of the Chi Phi Fraternity. After receiving his degree in psychology and a year of graduate work at the University of Minnesota, he began graduate studies in economics at The University of Chicago in 1933, where he began what would prove to be lifelong friendships with Milton Friedman, Aaron Director and George Stigler.

In 1936–37, he served as an economist and statistician for the National Resources Committee. During World War II, Wallis was the director of research of the U.S. Office of Scientific Research and Development's Statistical Research Group (1942–46) at Columbia University; he recruited a team of bright young economists, including Friedman and Stigler, to the Statistical Research Group.

From 1948 to 1954, Wallis served as the treasurer of the Mont Pèlerin Society.

University administration

Wallis served as dean of The University of Chicago Graduate School of Business from 1956 to 1962. During his time as dean he established the "Chicago Approach to Business Education," which involved the application of statistical methodology to business.

He became president of the University of Rochester in 1962, a position he held until 1970, when he became the University of Rochester's chancellor and chief executive. In 1975, he relinquished the job of chief executive, but remained chancellor of the university until his retirement in 1982.

In December 1992, the University of Rochester named a joint program of its Departments of Economics and Political Science in honor of Wallis: the W. Allen Wallis Institute of Political Economy at the University of Rochester. He died in 1998 in Rochester, New York.

Presidential advisor

In addition to his role as an academic and academic administrator, Wallis served as an advisor to U.S. presidents Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan. Under Eisenhower, he collaborated with Vice President Nixon on the report of the Cabinet Committee on Price Stability for Economic Growth (1959–61). Under Nixon and Ford, he served on the President's Commission on Federal Statistics and on the Advisory Council on Social Security. Nixon also appointed Wallis as chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a post he held 1975–78. Under Reagan, he served as Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs (1982–85), and then, after Congress changed the job description and title, as Under Secretary of State for Economic, Business, and Agricultural Affairs (1985–89).

Selected works

• Wallis, W. Allen; Moore, Geoffrey H. (1941), A Significance Test for Time Series and Other Ordered Observations., New York: National Bureau of Economic Research, OCLC 1876032
• Wallis, W. Allen; Churchill Eisenhart; Millard W Hastay (1947), Selected Techniques of Statistical Analysis for Scientific and Industrial Research and Production and Management Engineering, New York: McGraw-Hill, OCLC 490341075
• Wallis, W. Allen; Harry V. Roberts (1956), Statistics, a New Approach, Glencoe, Illinois: Free Press, OCLC 839651, retrieved 2009-12-30
• Wallis, W. Allen; James Tobin (1968), Welfare Programs: An Economic Appraisal, Washington, D.C.: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, OCLC 21672
• Wallis, W. Allen (1969), "Abolish the Draft", Science, 163 (3864), Washington, D.C.: National Council to Repeal the Draft: 235, Bibcode:1969Sci...163..235W, doi:10.1126/science.163.3864.235, OCLC 45712869, PMID 17790247
• Wallis, W. Allen (1976), An Overgoverned Society, New York: Free Press, ISBN 978-0-02-933710-3, OCLC 2352513

See also

• Kruskal–Wallis one-way analysis of variance

References

1. Pace, Eric (14 October 1998). "W. Allen Wallis, 85, Economist and President of U. Of Rochester". The New York Times.
2. "W. ALLEN WALLIS" (PDF). Retrieved 2023-11-29.
3. Pace, Eric (1998-10-14), "W. Allen Wallis, 85, Economist And President of U. of Rochester", The New York Times, New York, pp. A21, ISSN 0362-4331, retrieved 2009-12-30
4. R. M. Hartwell, A History of the Mont Pelerin Society, Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1995, pp. 66–7.
5. "Retired UR president Wallis dies", Democrat and Chronicle, Rochester, New York, pp. 1B, 1998-10-13, ISSN 1088-5153
6. "W. Allen Wallis, 85, Economist And President of U. of Rochester", The New York Times, New York City, New York, pp. A21, 1998-10-14, ISSN 0362-4331
7. W. Allen Wallis Institute of Political Economy (1998-10-12). "W. A. Wallis". Rochester, New York: University of Rochester. Retrieved 2009-12-30.

External links

• W. Allen Wallis Institute of Political Economy website
• Records of W. Allen Wallis, Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library
• Appearances on C-SPAN

• 1912 births
• 1998 deaths
• American statisticians
• Presidents of the University of Rochester
• University of Minnesota alumni
• Presidents of the American Statistical Association
• Fellows of the American Statistical Association
• University of Chicago faculty
• 20th-century American mathematicians
• 20th-century American economists
• 20th-century American academics
• Member of the Mont Pelerin Society