Anita Summers

Anita Arrow Summers is an American educator of public policy, management, real estate and education and is Professor Emerita at the University of Pennsylvania.

The daughter of Jewish immigrants from Romania.[1] Summers joined the University in 1979 as an Adjunct Professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, became a Professor of Public Policy and Management in 1982, and chaired that department from 1983-1988. She was a member of Provost's Academic Planning and Budget Committee from 1984–1990, in addition to many other University activities. She was Ombudsman of the University of Pennsylvania from 2001-2003. Summers has been a recipient of the Excellence in Teaching Awards at Wharton several times. While technically retired, her expertise is sought as she is considered a leading authority on urban economic development and finance and educational efficiency. She was a member of the Board of Directors and Chair of the Audit Committee of Meridian Bancorp from 1987 to 1996. She was Chair of the Board of Directors of Mathematica Policy Research from 1993-2010. Currently she is on that Board, on the Board of Trustees of Waverly Heights, Inc. and President of the Penn Association of Senior and Emeritus Professors of the University of Pennsylvania.

Summers is also a senior research fellow at Wharton's Samuel Zell and Robert Lurie Real Estate Center. Summers has authored and edited many books and reports. She comes from a family of well-known economists, including husband Robert Summers, son Lawrence Summers, brother Kenneth Arrow, and brother-in-law Paul Samuelson.

Prior to joining the Penn faculty Summers was Head of the Urban Section of the Research Dept. of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. Summers received a B.A. in Economics from Hunter College in 1945 and an M.A. from the University of Chicago in 1947. She did doctoral studies at Columbia University.