Department Head
Sugato Chakravarty
Department Head and Professor
MTHW 214F/229
812 W. State Street
West Lafayette, IN 47907-2060
(765) 494-6427 or (765) 494-8296
sugato@purdue.edu
Sugato Chakravarty was named head of the Department of Consumer Sciences and Retailing in 2008 after serving as interim head for one year. A member of the Purdue faculty since 1993, he has earned numerous awards for his research involving investments; market microstructure; international, small business, and corporate finance; and family economics related to investments and retirement.
He has consulted for the World Bank and serves as associate editor of the Journal of Financial Markets. Passionate about investor education, he developed an undergraduate course in personal finance that is one of the most popular electives at Purdue today.
In describing the department, Professor Chakravarty says, “We are an interdisciplinary area that addresses issues that affect the consumer at ground zero — families filing bankruptcies, credit card debt, and the uncertain future of social security, for example. These are all areas in which our department can leave large footprints. My goal is to foster and nurture partnerships that help society to better understand and weather financial crises.”