A Brief Biography...

Dr. Tahira K. Hira is Assistant to the President for External Relations and Executive Administration at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. She serves as special and confidential advisor to Iowa State President Gregory Geoffroy, as well as representing the president’s office to the university at large. In addition, Dr. Hira helps oversee external affairs offices such as the Alumni Association, the Athletic Department, University Relations, and University Marketing, including the planning and scheduling of special events.

Dr. Hira received her B.A. and M.A. degrees in economics from Punjab University, Lahore, in her native Pakistan. A past Fulbright-Hays Fellow, she was awarded an M.S. in agricultural economics in 1973 and the Ph.D. in family and consumer economics in 1976, both from the University of Missouri, Columbia. She came to Iowa State from the University of Manitoba in 1980 as a professor of personal finance and consumer economics. Before assuming her present position, Dr. Hira was Associate Vice Provost for ISU Extension, and helped to improve that organization’s structure, efficiency, and responsiveness to clients. Her current academic appointment is with the Department of Human Development and Family Studies.

Dr. Hira is known internationally for her research on consumer bankruptcy, including the social and psychological aspects of borrowing and gambling. She has taught and conducted research in family financial management, consumer credit, and consumer bankruptcy in Scotland, Canada, New Zealand, and Japan, where her research has been translated into Japanese, and has developed counseling materials and programs for Citibank and the Japan Consumer Finance Association. She has also served as a consultant for the development of financial counseling and planning programs for the University of Minnesota, the University of Putra (Malaysia), and Zayed Women’s University in the United Arab Emirates.

Dr. Hira has developed a special expertise in the borrowing behavior of college students and is the founder of Iowa State's Financial Counseling Clinic, which serves as a research and teaching laboratory for both undergraduate and graduate students. She also developed Iowa State’s financial counseling curriculum for undergraduates, as well as nearly 20 different courses and programs in personal finance at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. She has supervised three postdoctoral fellows, served as major professor for 25 graduate students, and sat as a member of 35 program of study committees.

Through testimony and consultation, Dr. Hira has helped to shape public policy on bankruptcy in the United States, Japan, and Canada. She has been an expert witness for the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary for revisions of the consumer bankruptcy code and for the U.S. Senate Banking Committee on the need for financial management education. She has served on several national committees and boards, including the Institute of Certified Financial Planners, the Board of Standards and Practices for the Certified Financial Planners, and the National Foundation for Consumer Credit. She was founding president of the Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education, and has served the board of the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences as both president and vice president of Finance & Properties.

Dr. Hira’s research has attracted nearly $1.4 million in internal and external support. She has published nearly 80 refereed articles and seven books or book chapters based on her work, and given more than 200 juried and invited presentations in the United States and abroad. She serves on the editorial boards of three professional journals and as a reviewer for numerous other publications in her field. She has held office in and served on dozens of panels, conferences, and professional organizations nationally and internationally.

Among Dr. Hira’s numerous honors and awards are the Association of Financial Counseling and Planning’s Distinguished Fellows Award, the Iowa State Board of Regents Faculty Excellence Award, the Iowa State University Alumni Association Faculty Citation Award, the ISU Wilton Park International Service Award, and the Japan Society of Household Economics Research Excellence Award. Her work has been cited in newspapers and magazines worldwide, including The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Wall Street Journal, The Christian Science Monitor, Modern Maturity, Money Magazine, The Otago Daily Times (New Zealand), Nippon Keizai Shinbun (Japan), and The Daily Telegraph (U.K.). Dr. Hira has appeared on National Public Radio, CNN News, CBS News, and the NBC “Today Show.”