Birth Dates of Notable Kentuckians: January 11, 1921 – Juanita (Morris) Kreps

 

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From The Kentucky Encyclopedia –
Juanita (Morris) Kreps, U.S. secretary of commerce, was born on January 11, 1921, in Lynch, Harlan County, Kentucky, to Elmer M. and Larcenia (Blair) Morris. She graduated from Berea College in 1942 with a B.A. degree and earned her Ph.D. in economics in 1948 at Duke University. Morris married Clifton H. Kreps, Jr., on August 11, 1944; they have three children, Sarah, Laura, and Clifton III. Juanita Kreps taught economics at Duke from 1955 to 1977 and served as the university's vice-president from 1973 to 1977.

On January 23, 1977, Kreps became U.S. secretary of commerce under President Jimmy Carter. She sought to expand the Commerce Department's focus from business enterprises alone to include the consumer public and employees. Kreps was considered Carter's chief economic diplomat, traveling all over the world to negotiate economic policies. She served as secretary of commerce until the end of the Carter administration in 1981.

Kreps has written and edited a variety of books and articles on economics, many focusing on women and the elderly in the marketplace and workplace. She has served on the boards of directors of the New York Stock Exchange, J.C. Penney Co., Eastman Kodak, and Citicorp and on the board of trustees of Berea College. In 1975 the University of Kentucky awarded her an honorary doctorate of law, and she received the Outstanding Alumni of Kentucky Award from Kentucky Advocates for Higher Education in 1987.

Selected Sources from UK Libraries:

Kreps, Juanita M. Lifetime Allocation of Work and Income; Essays in the Economics of Aging. Durham, N.C.: Duke UP, 1971. Print.
HD6279 .K74, Young Library - 4th Floor

Kreps, Juanita M. Contemporary Labor Economics and Labor Relations : Issues, Analysis, and Policies. 2d ed. Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth Pub., 1980. Print.
HD4901 .K68 1980, Law Library - Lower Level

Kreps, Juanita M. Sex in the Marketplace; American Women at Work. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 1971. Print. Policy Studies in Employment and Welfare, No. 11.
HD6095 .K76, Young Library - 4th Floor