Thomas Donley

Thomas Donley is a professor of economics at the Driehaus College of Business. Donley previously served as interim dean of the business college and its Kellstadt Graduate School of Business from July 1, ​2020 to July 1, 2022. Prior to becoming dean, Donley held a series of administrative roles in which he helped shape the business college’s program offerings and operations and DePaul’s faculty governance. DePaul presented Donley with its Spirit of DePaul Award in 2015. In his previous role as associate dean from 2018-2020, Donley oversaw academic operations at the college as well as its graduate degree programs in Bahrain and international business study abroad seminars around the globe. He served as special assistant to the business college dean from 2017-2018, assessing academic unit performance and faculty utilization. Born and raised on the South Side of Chicago, Donley joined DePaul’s faculty in 1990 and rose to professor of economics in 2002. He served from 2007 to 2016 as chair of the Department of Economics, where he established the Master of Science in Economics & Policy Analysis and its innovative fellowship program in Washington, D.C. Donley served on Faculty Council for 10 years and as its president from 2004 to 2006. In this role, he updated the council’s faculty representation model and initiated a revision of the Faculty Handbook, which outlines policies and procedures pertaining to DePaul faculty and their governance role at the university. Donley’s research expertise is in applied microeconomics and econometrics, with a focus on labor markets and wage inequality. He has published papers in a variety of journals, including the Journal of Legal Economics and the Journal of Consumer Affairs. He has taught graduate- and undergraduate-level courses in microeconomics, macroeconomics, econometrics, among other topics, and is the recipient of business college teaching awards. Donley earned a PhD and Master of Science in economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His PhD dissertation examined the distribution of family income and primary causes of increases in family income inequality in the U.S. Donley also holds a Master of Arts in Economics from University of Illinois-Chicago and a Bachelor of Arts in economics from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.