Jeffrey G. Williamson is not the type of person who takes no for an answer.

Sitting in his spacious Littauer office, Williamson, chair of the economics department and Bell professor of economics, sums up his philosophy succinctly.

"I like to win," he says.

And his economics department is thriving because of it.

In an era when Harvard departments sometimes have trouble attracting new faculty members--of the 200 academics Harvard has offered tenure since 1991, 60 have told the University no--the economics department is excelling.

Within in the last two years, the department has tenured five new professors, several of whom Williamson lured away from the clutches of other top schools. The department is currently closing in on a goal to hire five new associate professors.

Williamson's charisma, however, is only one explanation for these recent successes.

He points to internal improvements in the department as the main reason he's been hearing "yes" so frequently recently.