Elinor Ostrom (1933-2012) became the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in economics when she received the honor along with Oliver Williamson from University of California-Berkeley for their work analyzing the rules by which people exercise authority in companies and economic systems. Ostrom was a longtime faculty member at Indiana University-Bloomington and most recently served as the Arthur F. Bentley Professor of Political Science. Ostrom’s research investigated the ways in which communities have successfully managed “common pool” resources, such as water, fisheries, and forests through self-governance within civil society.