Newsletter, Spring 2001, Volume 4Alumni and News
By John O. Ward
An Invitation for our Alumni To Participate in our Strategic Plan for Excellence
Our last newsletter for alumni in the spring of 1999 detailed our move out of the Haag Hall to temporary space and our return to Haag Hall and Manheim Hall (the old Geo-Sciences Building) . We were facing several retirements and seeking new hires. Since 1999 we have really changed, new faces, new offices and a new strategic plan for the future. We want you to share in our plan by participating in department activities, news through the newsletter or the Internet and a new board of alumni advisors. We are excited about our future and we wouldn’t be here today without you. You are the continuum with our past –our students, the reason we exist.
First, what is new in the department? Well, Professors Brazelton, Shepherd and Hubbell have retired and are now emeriti professors. Bob and Ken are still teaching on a reduced schedule. We have added a new center to our department, the Center for Full Employment and Price Stability (CFEPS). Our Center for Economic Information (CEI) continues to prosper and we have added the Institute for Labor Studies, with Judy Ancel as Director. Each of these centers will report their activities in this newsletter. We have also added five new faculty to the department during the past two years, Professors Randy Wray, Matt Forstater, Stephanie Bell, Fred Lee and Cathy Carroll (Joint with Pharmacy), by order of hire. We have just completed a strategic plan design, and we are well into implementing the plan. Our achievements have been dramatic.
As stated in the “Chronology” to our strategic plan;
“The momentum we have generated has produced dramatic results during the past two years including:
You can read more about our plan at our website at http://www.umkc/edu/economics. We look forward to hearing from you. We want to set up an alumni page on our web site and a list serve to provide you with information about visiting speakers and department function. We need your ideas and participation. They are critical to our strategic plan. We plan to establish an Alumni Advisory Group to facilitate a strong relationship with our alumni in the coming months and we need volunteers. Please fill out the alumni information form and join the effort.
On the Road
L. Randall Wray has been on the road more than in Kansas City it seems. He presented a paper on "Full Employment with Price and Currency Stability: A Proposal for China" at the Embassy of the People's Republic of China as well as presenting papers at the Post Keynesian Summer Workshop, the ASSA meetings, AFIT meetings, the conference of the Association for Heterodox Economics, at the University of Southern California, and at Wayne State.
Frederic
Lee has presented papers at the Berlin meeting of the European Association
for Evolutionary Political Economy, ASSA meetings, and the Missouri Valley
Economics Association Conference.
W. Robert Brazelton-In
the summer of 2000, Dr. Brazelton attended the meetings of Heterodox Economics
in London; and organized and chaired a seminar at the meetings of the Society
for the Advancement of Socio-economics on Post Keynesian Economics, also
in London. In the near future he intends to work on a book on policy changes
in relation to historical events; and apply for a grant to transcribe several
tapes from presentations by such economists as Victoria Chick, Leon Keyserling,
Paul Davidson, Daniel Fusfeld, Hyman Minsky, and others, mostly from presentations
at UMKC. In October 2000 he acted as President and Program Director for
the Central Slavic Association for the meetings held in Kansas City, Missouri,
October 12-14.
Stephanie
Bell: Dr Bell has presented papers at the Political Economy of
Monetary Integration Conference in Ottawa, the ASSA meetings, the Eastern
Economics Association Annual Meetings, and the Conference on Post-Keynesian
Economics. She gave a public lecture on "Revealing the Truth about
the Social Security Problem" at Belmont Abbey College in North Carolina.
She also completed her Ph.D. dissertation in April 2001: “Public Policy
and Government Finance. A comparative Analysis under different Monetary
systems.”
Mathew
Forstater: Dr. Forstater has been busier than a little beaver.
He has presented papers on Adolf Lowe, employment policy, and discrimination
at the Eastern Economic Association meetings, the ASSA meetings, the History
of Economics Society annual meetings, the Conference of Economics and Sociology,
Post Keynesian Workshop, and the International Industrial Relations Associations
meetings. He has also given papers on issues concerning full employment
at the University of Newcastle and University of Notre Dame.
News in Print
Robert Brazelton: In February 2001, Dr. Brazelton’s book Designing U.S. Economic Policy was published by Palgrave/MacMillan Press, London. It is a study of the economic policies of the Truman era under the auspices of Truman’s chief economic adviser, Leon H. Keyserling. It traces Keyserling contributions to economic policy to his death in 1987 in addition to the Truman years.
Randall Wray: Dr Wray has produce numerous publications during the past year, including articles and notes in The Economic and Labour Relations Review, Eastern Economic Journal, Challenge, and Social Justice. In addition he has an article in the Journal of Economic Issues on "Can a Rising Tide Raise All Boats? Evidence from the Clinton-era-expansion". Finally, he has written a paper on "Modern Money" that appeared in What is Money?; and a paper on "Minsky's Analysis of Financial Capitalism" that appeared in Financial Keynesianism and Market Instability.
Frederic Lee: Dr Lee has had two articles on Post Keynesian economics appear in the Journal of Post Keynesian Economics; an entry on Caroline Ware in Biographical Dictionary of Women Economists; and two entries on the history of Post Keynesian economics appearing Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology.
John O. Ward: Dr. Ward begins his 15th year as editor of the Journal of Forensic Economics (JFE), published in the department of economics. Jack Co-founded and was the first president of the National Association of Forensic Economics. NAFE has grown to nearly 1000 members and the JFE is the leading journal in the field of Forensic Economics. Nancy Eldredge has served 13 years as production editor of the JFE. Jack has published 3 books and over forty papers in the field of forensic economics, in addition to his publications in human capital economics. In addition to his duties as chair, Professor Ward is also the Faculty Athletic Representative of UMKC to the NCAA.
The Department received $5,395 to fund reference book purchases from the 2001 Friends of the Library gift fund.
Stephanie Bell: Dr. Bell has published articles on "The Role of the State and the Hierarchy of Money" in the Cambridge Journal of Economics, three articles on taxes, social security, and government spending in the Journal of Economic Issues, and an article in the Review of Social Economy on hospitality vs. exchange.
Dr. Mathew Forstater: Dr Forstater has published articles in the Review of Austrian Economics, Review of Social Economy, Journal of Post Keynesian Economics and in Economic and Labour Relations Review. He also has a chapter on full employment policies in Post Keynesian Economics for the Twenty-first Century, four entries in the Encyclopedia of International Political Economy, and help edit Commitment to Full Employment.
Dr. Ben Young: Dr. Young presented a paper “Environmentally Friendly Economics” at the AFIT section of the WSSA in Reno, NV.
A
Generation of Political Economists: Part II of the History of
the Department of Economics
By Eugene Wagner
Dr. Bob Brazelton joined the Department of Economics at the age of one year. I know this because we worked together for thirty-eight years and I never heard him claim to be older than thirty-nine. In the last issue of this newsletter I gave the department’s history from the forming of the University of Kansas City, UKC, to about 1960. It makes sense to now record in brief the department’s history to the 1990s, the time of retirement of Dr. Bob, and Drs. Ross Shepherd, and Ken Hubbell and the appointment of the new faculty noted elsewhere in this Report.
In the early years of UKC, the Department of Economics was one of merit. Then, very quickly in the late 1950s, things fell apart. Eugene Altschul retired. Arthur Billings moved to Indiana State in 1960. Walter “Mike” Wagner, a favorite teacher of many, accepted an appointment at the College of the Pacific in 1961. A School of Business Administration was established which successfully competed with the Department for students. In 1961 the Department was a faculty of one, Dr. John Hodges, with only ten majors. John, as many are aware, was the first Ph.D. student of C.E. Ayres of the University of Texas, and, strongly committed to the doctrine of Ayresian Institutional Economic theory. The Ayresian view also dominated in the newly founded School of Business. In 1961 Prof. Hodges submitted a request for the Department to transfer to the School of Business. The Dean objected. The Dean and the Chancellor also objected to the high salary offers required to hire new faculty in the Department, $7,500 to $8,000. There also was concern for the “singular theoretical perspective” of the Department. Last, but by no means least, there was friction within the College faculty and the College and University Administration regarding the General Education requirements of the College.
In 1962 I was awarded a faculty appointment. Dr. Hodges taught the Institutional courses and the policy courses and I taught the theory classes. The following year, 1963, Dr. Robert Brazelton joined the faculty. He was, and remains, strongly committed to Keynesian theory, based more on Keynes’ General Theory than the neo-classical IS-LM perspective of Hicks and Hansen. In 1963-64 under the guidance of Chancellor Carlton Scofield UKC became an affiliate of the University of Missouri and the Department and the College entered an era of growth in faculty and in student numbers. In 1960-61 the faculty of the College numbered 55. In 1965-66 it numbered 117. Despite the years of difficulty the department remained committed to offering an evening Masters of Economics program and a day and night program for undergraduate students. The Department also was committed to supporting the General Education program despite the Dean’s reservations regarding the merits of the program. Meeting these many commitments was a full time job for all of us.
In 1965 John Pool did a brief stint as a faculty member before accepting a Fulbright appointment at the Autonoma University in Guadalajara, Mexico. Don Bartholomew also, for a brief period, held a faculty appointment. By June 1967, with the addition of Joe E. Brown who had joined the department in September 1966, the Department numbered six full time faculty members. Professor Brown arrived on campus with a strong committed to introduce a program of urban studies at UMKC. Unfortunately during his many years on the faculty there never seemed to be sufficient funds provided to create a full blown urban studies program.
All of us in the mid 1960s were concerned with the coverage of microeconomics, particularly in the graduate program. Ross Shepherd and I were students together at Syracuse in 1960. Well aware of his Chicago School theoretical views of economics I successfully lobbied for his appointment to the faculty. He joined the department in 1968. No longer were there complaints from the College Administration regarding the narrowness of the Department’s perspective. Quite the contrary, one report contains the following quote, modified to protect the identified. “It is not particularly cheering to admit that I find some of the members of this Department [Economics] less parochial, less provincial than most of the members of the XXX Department.” By 1968-69 the Department of Economics was second only to the general program of the College in the number of BA decrees award, 37 v 39.
In 1969 Wagner joined Pool in Mexico for a year. John Ward joined the faculty, Jim Sturgeon, in the Masters program, was awarded an assistantship and Phil DeMoss, of the faculty received his Ph.D. in May 1969. These were the beginning years of campus protest against the Vietnam War. As in other parts of the country course instruction during these years was difficult as well as exciting. Professor Ken Hubbell joined the faculty in 1970, received his Ph.D., and began a meritorious career as advisor to a number of national and international agencies. In 1972 Wagner, not without some concern in Central Administration, was appointed Chairman of the Department. In 1976 the Department received a note from the new Dean of the College George Dahlgren, “Let me congratulate you and the department for the fine job which you have done during the past year in teaching and research. I wish it were possible to build it in all other departments in the College.”
One of the most difficult appointments to be made in an Economics Department is that of the instructor of statistics and mathematics. Fortunately for us, since 1981 Dr. Peter Eaton has had that assignment. One of my favorite stories regarding the Department was the hiring of Prof. Mike Viren. I attended the Midwest Economics Convention in Chicago in 1975 in an unsuccessful search of an econometrician. On my return flight to KC I was assigned a seat next to a cowboy complete with ten-gallon hat, buckskin suit, and boots. I tossed an economics text in the seat and he asked me how I liked the book. My immediate thought was “who is this guy.” It was Mike. He taught and loved statistics and mathematics. I hired him somewhere over Iowa. About a year later Prof. Viren gained regional fame for his testimony in opposition to the Kansas nuclear power plant. Mike then chose to leave academics.
In 1976 Prof. John Ward returned from a sabbatical in Brazil and became Chair of the Department. Gerald Olson, who joined the faculty in 1971, published a number of articles with Ross Stevens on revenue sharing among states. Prof. Shepherd published The Economics of International Exchange and Prof. Brazelton who was strongly supportive of Omicron Delta Epsilon, the student honor society, was recognized by the organization as the outstanding regional director. In the Annual Report of the Chancellor for the Academic Year 76-77 Wesley Dale including the following note, “The small number of faculty in the Economics Department, with a 9 credit hour teaching load were able to produce one text, six journal articles, 13 professional presentations, and a number of “working papers.”
In 1979 John Ward was appointed Associate Dean in the College and Gerald Olson became the Department Chair. In February 1980 Prof. Olson sent a letter to Eldon Parizek, Dean of the College. I am extremely pleased to inform you that the Department has successfully filled all three of our positions for AY [academic year] 1980-81. After an extensive search process we have selected the following: Peter Eaton, Ph.D. Florida, James Sturgeon, Ph.D. Oklahoma, Karen Vorst, Ph.D. Indiana. It turns out Sturgeon joined the faculty in 1978, Eaton was hired in 1979 and Vorst in 1980. These were the last appointments to the Department that would be made for nearly two decades.
Despite the successes of the Department, in the early 1980s a number of the faculty in the Department thought that they would be better received in the School of Business and Public Administration. Moreover, salaries in B&PA were appreciably higher than in the College. The faculty held a meeting to discuss the matter. On Oct. 4, 1982 Dean Parizek sent a note to Chairman Olson. “ I have been informed that the Department of Economics may be exploring the possibility of a move from the College of Arts and Science to the School of Business and Public Administration . . . I request from you by tomorrow morning, Tuesday, a written response as to the extent to which such action has been underway, with whom such discussions have occurred, if any, and the purpose of such discussions.” We didn’t move to B&PA.
In the following years I served another stint as Department Chair. Jack Ward then returned from his tenure as Associate Dean and was appointed Chair. During these years the faculty continued its commitments to teaching, research, and community service. Prof. Shepherd was a Fulbright scholar in Hungary. Peter Eaton, with some help from his friends, formed the Center for Economic Information. A Center for Labor Studies was organized. For a number of years the Department directed the Center for Economic Education, first administered by Gerald Olson and then by Ross Shepherd. Jim Sturgeon, against major odds, was very instrumental in organizing the new Social Science Ph.D. program. Through these many years we have had wonderful students who seemed to be willing to accommodate to the diversity of views of the members of the Department.
In 1986 outside reviewers in their report of the Department wrote, “There is a significant amount of diversity of thought and analysis in the department, a fact which appears as one of the major strengths of the department. There does not appear to be any significant amount of personal animosity as a result of differing economic philosophies, even though these differences often led to bitter in-fighting in many universities. These diversities should be encouraged and the faculty commended for their collegiality.” Through it all it has been a great experience to share Bob Brazelton’s youth as the rest of us aged.
Report
of the Undergraduate Director
By
Karen S. Vorst
The number of undergraduate economics majors has remained relatively stable for the past several years. We are looking to increase our numbers by actively recruiting students from area high schools and community colleges. We realize that there are many excellent students right in our backyard who may not know about our program and we are trying to change that. A new brochure is being developed and our website contains up to date information on course requirements, course content, syllabi, and schedules.
With the addition of several new faculty members, our course offerings have expanded. Financial Analysis and the Economy is a popular elective that introduces students to the imperative and yet occasionally destabilizing role of finance in a capitalist economy. Economic Policy provides an overview of economic policy, first examining the theoretical case for government intervention into the economy, and then analyzing a number of current and important policy debates, ranging from poverty and unemployment issues to the Social Security "crisis". Students can also get exposure to the issues and policies related to Health Economics, a greatly expanding field today. With three professors in the department with awards in excellence in teaching and with many of our professors receiving some of the highest student evaluations in the college, the department is able to offer students an excellent curriculum, expose them to new ideas and theories in economics and provide them with the critical thinking skills necessary in today’s challenging world.
There have been a few other changes in our curriculum. One significant change is the dropping of the Commercial Economics emphasis. We originally offered this emphasis when the Business School decreased its enrollment. Now that the policy has been reversed, it was no longer necessary for the department to offer this degree focus. We have many business majors, though, who elect to minor in economics, supplementing their business courses with courses in Money and Banking, Financial Economics and International Finance. Our students still have an opportunity to take courses through the PACE program.
The expected increase in enrollment will certainly mean more demand for internships. We are currently working with various local companies in order to increase the variety of internships available. Students seem to enjoy the “hands-on” experience and we believe that it is a win-win situation for everyone involved.
We would like to congratulate Santhanagdpalan Vasudev who was the recipient of the Joe E. Brown award last May. This award, named after a former Professor and Chair of Economics, is given each year to an outstanding undergraduate student who has excelled in the economics program and who has a demonstrated potential for future success. Mr. Vasudev clearly is deserving of this honor.
Report
of the Graduate Director
By James
Sturgeon
The graduate program is thriving. We look forward to a busy, enjoyable and rewarding year. As many of you know our Ph.D. program began in the early 1990's. There are now 13 Ph.D. students and we have admitted 10 new students for Fall 2001. We are very pleased that our program is attracting top students from around the world. This year we recruited students from Brazil, Bulgaria, China, France, Mexico, Tunisia, and the US. We have developed one of the few pluralistic graduate programs in the US and have strengthened it with high quality students.
The Center for Full Employment and Price Stability has played a significant role in attracting students and providing research opportunities. It sponsors conferences and speakers adding to the variety and richness of the graduate experience. It also provides graduate assistantships to support students while they pursue their degrees.
The Center for Economic Information plays an important part in the graduate program by providing opportunities for applied research. It affords the opportunity for students to acquire high level empirical and quantitative skills while working on applied research projects. Presently the Center has students working on the Kansas City Housing Condition Survey and the Kansas City Community Development Initiative.
The Social Science Consortium, a co-discipline in the Ph.D. program, is housed in the Department and allows us to provide students with a broad background in social theory and method. The SSC has 38 students from the College of Arts & Sciences, the Bloch School, and the School of Education. It dovetails well with the pluralistic Ph.D. program and several economics students find it fits well with their academic program. The SSC sponsored a bi-weekly seminar (the winter semester being devoted to Applications of Control Theory to Economic Analysis). Dr. William Williams, a newly appointed Fellow of the Consortium conducted this seminar. He plans to develop a course in Control Theory for next year. His primary interests are Economic Theory, Institutional Economic Theory, and Psychological Control Theory. Also next year James L. Webb will join the Consortium as a Research Fellow. Professor Webb will be participating in the Philosophy and Methodology Seminar and teaching a course in Econometrics and Philosophy of Science. His primary interests are Philosophy of Science and Instrumentalist Philosophy. His primary area of applied research is in Drug Use and Drug Use Policy.
The Masters program continues to be an important part of the Department's educational mission. It attracts students, both from the Kansas City area and worldwide. Seven students graduated this year, 28 continuing students and 12 new students for fall 2001. This year we modified the program to include an applied option so that students can participate in an applied research project. This will strengthen their skills as they pursue work opportunities.
We believe the graduate programs will continue their progress and be a source of strength for the department and the University.
Seminars and Speakers
The Seminar on Research Methodology had 9 speakers for the year. Edward Nell: April 16-18, ‘01 spoke on Keynes, Sraffa, & full employment. Paul Downward: March 19-22, ‘01 spoke on English football, econometrics, and Post-Keynesian economics. Gary Dymski: Nov. 28-30, ‘00 spoke on public policy, credit markets & racial discrimination. Jan Kregel: Nov. 27, ‘00 spoke on global growth and imbalances. Alain Parguez: Oct. 26-27. ‘00 spoke on monetary theory. James Peach: Oct. 6, ‘00 spoke on the Mexican Economy and NAFTA..
Center
for Full Employment and Price Stability
By Mathew
Forstater
In its second year at its new home in UMKC’s Economics Department, the Center for Full Employment and Price Stability (CFEPS) has continued to make significant contributions in the academic, community and policy arenas.
In the fall semester of 2000, CFEPS brought Jan Kregel as a Distinguished Visiting Professor to UMKC, who taught Financial Macroeconomics. Dr. Kregel is a High Level Expert in International Finance and Macroeconomics at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. The Center is pleased to announce that Dr. Kregel will be teaching another graduate course in the Spring of 2002. In addition CFEPS has made plans to bring other nationally and internationally renowned scholars to teach as visiting professors. Among these will be Professor Paul Davidson, who holds the Holly Chair of Excellence in Political Economy at the University of Tennessee.
CFEPS also continued to sponsor a lecture series, bringing in many prominent economists, social scientists, and policy makers to conduct seminars for UMKC students, staff and alumni, as well as attracting participants from the community and other universities. Among some of the Center-sponsored speakers were James Galbraith from the University of Texas, Edward Nell of the New School for Social Research, Alain Parguez of the University of Ottawa, Gary Dymski from the University of California – Riverside, and Harry Boyte from the Center for Democracy and Citizenship at the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs.
CFEPS is pleased to announce that this summer it will host for the first time the Association for Evolutionary Economics’ Institutionalist Summer School, which brings professors and students from all over the world. The Center continues its intensive involvement in the Kansas City community as well. In the past year CFEPS has joined hands with City Councilman Troy Nash in the Prospect Corridor Initiative, one of the boldest programs for community development in the Kansas City Metro Area.
On the policy front, CFEPS continues to publish and disseminate its program proposals to a variety of high level political circles. In December of 2000, members of the Center met with the Chinese Embassy’s Economic Minister Tian Jun and several other diplomats. CFEPS offered its proposal for tackling China’s unemployment problem, which was received favorably by the Chinese delegates. Talks continue for future collaboration.
On the domestic front, CFEPS staff also visited the Capitol, sharing ideas at Rep. Richard Gephardt’s offices in Congress. CFEPS is heavily involved in the Social Security Debate, and next semester the Center will host a conference on Social Security at UMKC. CFEPS representatives also met with Harvard Sociologist William Julius Wilson and Martin Luther King III during the school year.
Visit www.cfeps.org where you can find CFEPS Working Papers, Policy Notes, and Special Reports, as well as CFEPS Digest, which tells about CFEPS activities and its novel service learning program for UMKC students.
Institute
for Labor Studies
By
Judy Ancel
The
Institute for Labor Studies joined the Economic Department this year
as a result of a recommendation by the Chancellor.
ILS
was previously housed in the Extended Programs office. Director Judy
Ancel is very pleased that ILS
has acquired an "Academic Home" and that the Economics Department was interested
in collaborating with us. ILS
is now housed in Royall Hall, rooms 408 D & E.
We are a joint project of UMKC and Longview Community College and provide both credit and non-credit programs and conferences aimed at Kansas City area unions and working people. Our Credit Certificate in Labor Studies offers six courses on three campuses - UMKC, UMSL and UMC through the Interactive Video Network.
We also do contract training for unions on a variety of labor topics and host a weekly radio show, The Heartland Labor Forum, on community radio KKFI which is produced by volunteers from area unions. Our Labor in the Schools project has developed an eleventh grade curriculum aimed at preparing young people for the world of work. Charles Suffridge, our research assistant, oversees this project.
In July, we will be hosting the Midwest School for Women Workers, to be held for the first time in Kansas City. It is a five-day residential leadership program for union women.
Missouri
Council for Economic Education
By Stan Mengel
The Missouri Council on Economic Education (MCEE) has been based at the University of Missouri since 1969 and with the UMKC Department of Economics since 1997. The mission of the MCEE is to raise the level of economic literacy of Missouri citizens with a special emphasis on training teachers from grades K-12 with special methods and materials to incorporate economics (required K-12 by Missouri state law) into reading, writing, math, and social studies. In the past year the MCEE reached over 4000 teachers throughout the state with 30,000 teacher-contact-hours of instruction. Over 12,000 Missouri students participated in the Stock Market Game (a ten-week Internet simulation) conducted by the MCEE in the past year. MCEE Advisory Board member Governor Bob Holden welcomed MCEE Trustees in his office in a March meeting held in the state capitol building. Missouri Secretary of State Matt Blunt was the featured speaker at three banquets in St. Louis, Kansas City, and Springfield with over 800 people attending to honor student winning teams in the Stock Market Game. UMSL Chancellor Blanche Touhill presented retiring Chairman Benjamin Edwards, III the MCEE’s Award of Distinction at the St. Louis Banquet held in the A.G. Edwards World Headquarters.
Center
for Economic Information
By Peter
Eaton
The last year has
been a good one for the Center for
Economic Information. The Center’s Director, Peter
Eaton, was nominated as the UMKC representative for the first C. Brice
Ratchford Memorial Fellowship recognizing a UM faculty member who
demonstrates commitment, dedication and effectiveness in advancing the
land-grant mission through extension.
CEI
added to its staff by hiring Sara Ballew as an IT specialist. Doug Bowles
continues his pathbreaking work in the application of Geographic Information
Systems to the problems of community development. For a sample of the work
of these two, take a look at our web site (http://cei.umkc.edu)
and click on the GPLAN icon. This is a prototype of a planning tool that
will eventually cover much of the metropolitan area.
CEI’s
major grants & contracts are with the City of KCMO Dept. of Housing
and Community Development, the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC),
The Kauffman Foundation, and the Unified Governments of Wyandotte County.
We look forward to participating in a number of important initiatives
in the near future, including grants with the Federal Small Business Administration,
HUD, and the increased involvement of UMKC with the community through the
new Center for the City.
The
Economics Club
By Stephanie
Bell
At the beginning of the year, a new group of students took over as Officers of the Economics Club. The group invited a variety of professionals to speak at their first meeting. A local City Councilman, a Law Professor, and a Marketing Manager from Sprint each talked to the Club about the many job opportunities available to students who graduate with a degree in economics. The following month, the Club toured the Kansas City Bureau of Labor Statistics, where they had an opportunity to meet and observe a number of working economists. The club also co-sponsored a talk by Professor Paul Downward of the University of Staffordshire, who gave an entertaining lecture on the economics of English football. The semester’s activities culminated with the Club’s picnic in late April. The Club also promotes the publication of the student's journal, Oeconomicus. The Club plans to remain active throughout the summer. Habitat for Humanity has asked for volunteers, and the Club’s members have responded to this call by agreeing to devote their time on July 14th. Additionally, the Club plans to organize informal (monthly) get-togethers, where members of the faculty will lead discussions on current events over brunch on the Plaza.
Graduate
Students’ Activities
By Fadhel
Kaboub
Graduate students have been very active and productive this year. Many of them published articles as well as interviews with economists in the students’ journal Oeconomicus edited by Dr. Ben Young and Fadhel Kaboub. Benton Wolverton held tutoring sessions in micro and macro for undergraduate students. Our graduate students attended, presented and discussed papers at the annual meetings of the Eastern Economic Association, the Western Social Science Association, the Southwestern Social Science Association, and the Missouri Valley Economic Association. In particular, Poti Giannakouros presented a paper at the Post-Keynesian Workshop in Knoxville; Joelle Leclaire, a first year Ph.D. student, presented a paper entitled “The Employer of Last Resort Policy within the Post-Keynesian Paradigm,” at the Post-Graduate Economics Conference of the University of Leeds, U.K. Fadhel Kaboub, Dale Krueger, Zdravka K. Todorova and Benton Wolverton presented papers at the 37th Annual Missouri Valley Economic Association in Kansas City; and Fadhel Kaboub and Zdravka K. Todorova presented papers at the 81st Annual Meeting of Southwest Economics Assoc. in Ft. Worth. Joelle Leclaire has been awarded the Chancellor's Interdisciplinary Ph.D. Fellowship for 2001-02; Zdravka Todorova received the Women’s Council Graduate Assistance Award for her conference participations & has been awarded a Summer Fellowship at the American Institute for Economic Research in Great Barrington, MA. Benton Wolverton is doing an oral history of Institutional Thought. He has interviewed Marc Tool, Walter Neal, Philip Klein, and Gladys Foster. Other Institutionalists will be interviewed during the AFEE/UMKC Economics Summer School 2001, which several graduate students will attend.
Alumni News
The Department of
Economics at UMKC has over 1100 alumni according to our development office.
Among our alumni are educators, attorneys, judges, executives, business
and government economists, and many other professions.
Economics is excellent
preparation for the law as evidenced by the large number of our graduates
that have pursued legal careers including Gary Robb, Russ Dameron, Paul
Schmidline, Judges Ron Holliger and Stephen Nixon. We have graduates
in high places in the federal government ( Virginia Guzman in the Department
of Agriculture and Tom Hale at the Department of Labor) and in local government
(Gary Sage and Gary Carter at MARC and our City Manager Bob Collins, and
City Councilman Troy Nash.) Many of our students have gone on for Ph.D.s
and careers as economists such as Mike Kelsay, Willadee Wehmeyer, Roger
Garrison, Quoc Trung, Jennifer Golac, Tom Hale, Ivan Wienal and Steve Spartan.
Phil Schuchman, a DeVry professor, won the 1998 Governor’s award for excellence
in teaching. Jerald Boadwater is a senior sales consultant with Upjohn
in Minnesota. Douglas Copeland directed the China-JCCC exchange program
in 1998. Philip Mayer is a city planner in Atlanta, Georgia.
Marie Zartman (retired) class of ‘43 is pleased to see all of the women
graduating today. In 1943 she was the only one. Jerry Lonegren
is the head of the Arts & Sciences Alumni. Aaron Hedge is busy
working on his dissertation at North Carolina State University and hopes
to finish it by late fall for a December graduation. Good luck! Aaron
has also been awarded the National Agricultural College and Teachers Association
graduate teaching award for 2001 and in August will be presenting a paper
at the Agricultural Economics National meetings in Chicago. Did you
know that there are three UMKC alumni working for the Bureau of Labor Statistics
in Kansas City?-Michelle Freeman, Stan Suchman and Gerald Taylor.
Diane Ong is working for H & R Bloch as a Modeling Analyst in
the marketing department. Dawn Dunsmore is pursuing her studies in
England at Sussex College. Last word is that she is to begin her
Ph.D. program in the fall.
Send
us your news and information to be included in the next issue!
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Department
of Economics
211
Haag Hall
University
of Missouri-Kansas City
5100
Rockhill Road
Kansas
City, Missouri 64110
Phone:
(816) 235-1314
Fax:
(816) 235-2834
Send
e-mail to, economics@umkc.edu
KaboubF@umkc.edu