Clemens Lecture Series

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2025 Clemens Lecture

Monday, October 6th, 2025 | Misty Heggeness, Professor of Public Affairs and Economics, founder of the Kansas Population Center, and author of Swiftynomics

Lecture: SWIFTYNOMICS: How Women Mastermind and Redefine Our Economy

A woman with long brown hair and glasses smiles, standing indoors against a warm, orange-toned background. She is wearing a black top, a black cardigan, and a pendant necklace.

Misty L. Heggeness is co-director of the Kansas Population Center, Associate Professor of Economics and Public Affairs at the University of Kansas, and former Principal Economist
and Senior Advisor at the US Census Bureau. She is also creator of The Care Board, a dashboard of economic statistics built by and for caregivers that brings their economic contributions into the fold.


She has over a decade of experience leading high-profile research that informed decision-making within the U.S. federal government. Her research focuses on poverty & inequality, gender economics, and the high-skilled workforce, and has appeared in outlets such as The New York Times, TIME, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, The Economist, and Science.

About the Clemens Lecture Series

The Clemens Lecture Series was founded to further conversation on the ways that economics can speak to the larger problems of our society and culture. It brings to Saint John’s outstanding economists noted for their abilities to address the economic dimensions of social issues and to sustain dialogue with the other fields of the liberal arts. It also provides a valuable opportunity for students to meet both informally and in classes with the visiting lecturer. The lecture series is designed to be practically useful in understanding daily life and is intended for a wide audience, including students, faculty, the business and professional community and members of the general public interested in the impact of economic issues in their lives.

The Clemens Chair in Economics and the Liberal Arts and the Clemens Lecture Series have been made possible by the generosity of William E. and Virginia Clemens.

College of Saint Benedict
Saint John’s University

Louis Johnston
Clemens Chair in Economics and the Liberal Arts
CSB Main 307
320-363-5683

2024 Clemens Lecture