Dr. Jimmye S. Hillman papers

Dr. Jimmye S. Hillman (1923 – 2015), was a long-time professor at the University of Arizona - College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, an international economist, as well as a literary memoirist later in life.

Hillman was born in 1923 and grew up in Greene County, Mississippi on a subsistence farm. After graduating from Mississippi State University in 1942, Hillman served in the United States Army from 1942 to 1945, obtained a Master’s Degree from Texas A & M University in 1946, and a Ph.D. in agricultural economics from University of California, Berkeley, in 1950. Hillman joined the UA faculty in 1950, became head of the Department of Agricultural Economics in 1961, serving in that role until his retirement in 1990.

While at UA, Hillman trained generations of agricultural economists and took part in making the University a leader in the field. His research interests included agricultural and trade policies with some of his most significant work centered on the study of nontariff trade barriers. He authored two books, Nontariff Agricultural Trade Barriers (1978) and Technical Barriers to Agricultural Trade (1991), as well as numerous articles examining the globalization of food production and consumption, the proliferation of new food technologies, and the effects of agribusiness and technology on the environment, human health and social justice.

Additionally, he served as economist for the U.S. Agency for International Development in Brazil from 1957-1959, developed USAID Green Revolution projects in the Cape Verde Islands, and served as an advisor on agricultural policy to the government of Portugal when the nation was preparing to enter the European Union. In 1966-1967, Hillman was the Executive Director of the President's National Advisory Commission on Food and Fiber, appointed by President Lyndon Johnson, and in 1983-1984, chaired the agricultural study group assisting the President's Commission on United States-Japanese Relations, under President Ronald Reagan. He was also part of the Western States Manpower Advisory Committee established by the US Commission on Civil Rights. During 1972-1973, Hillman was a Visiting Research Fellow at Jesus College, University of Oxford as well as a visiting distinguished professor of economics at Lincoln University in Christchurch, New Zealand in 1995-1996 and received an honorary doctorate from the University of Ceará, Brazil in 1999.

In his retirement, Hillman focused his attention on writing in both creative non-fiction and the memoir. His account of his childhood during the Depression years, under the title of Hogs, Mules and Yellow Dogs, was published by University of Arizona Press in 2012.

Hillman passed away on June 4, 2015 due to complications of a stroke.