Missouri State University

Department News Updates

April 2010

  • The Department held its annual reception for scholarship winners and ΟΔΕ inductees on April 30, 2010, at ReRico’s, a Brazilian restaurant. The following scholarships were awarded:
    • Economics Alumni Scholarship ($1000) - Taylor Hennessy
    • Hardie Memorial Scholarship ($800) - Melissa Hill
    • J David Lages Memorial Scholarship ($600) - Thomas Hotard
    • Wasson Award ($1000) - Anna Harrington
    • Carnahan Scholarship ($600) - Jade Chrisman
    • Larry & Carol Cox Scholarship ($500) - Albert Roberts
    • Scott and Gayla Moore Scholarship ($500) - Brett Foster
    • Minor Scholarship ($500) – Sean Brinker

At the same reception 16 majors and 4 minors were inducted into Omicron Delta Epsilon (ΟΔΕ), the National Honor Society in Economics.

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS AND THE ΟΔΕ INDUCTEES!

March 2010

  • March 19-21, 2010. At the Midwest Economics Associations Annual Meeting held in Evanston, Illinois.
    • Professor Christina Robinson presented a paper , “Being a Mother is Good for Your Waistline: An Examination of Food Stamp Program Participation and Obesity in Mothers and their Children,” (with Xiaoyong Zheng).
    • Members of the Economics Club organized a trip to the meetings where they attended multiple paper sessions and learned about the research being performed by academic and professional economists as well as undergraduate students at other universities. Several students are hopeful of being able to present their own research at the meetings in 2011. When asked about their experience at the meetings students said they “found it interesting to hear how economics extends beyond the theories they learned in class to important issues in the world around them”.
  • March 4-7, 2010. Julie Gallaway attended a by-invitation-only symposium on “Principles of Economics Technology,” organized by McGraw-Hill/Irwin, held in Boca Raton, FL.
  • March 2, 2010. Dr. Mohammad Yunus, the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner, was on campus to present the 2010 Provost Convocation Lecture. He spoke on "Social Business--Business to Make a Difference," and before his talk, several faculty members from the Economics Department had an opportunity to get together with him.
  • Professor Terrel Gallaway has been awarded a Curriculum Innovation Grant by MSU’s Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning. The grant will be used to develop a study-away course to be held in Summer 2011 in the UK. The course will be entitled, “Economic History and the History of Economic Thought in the United Kingdom.”
  • Julie Gallaway has been recommended for promotion (subject to approval by the Board of Governors) to the rank of Senior Instructor. Congratulations, Julie!
  • Robert Cavender, a graduating senior, with a major in Economics has been accepted to Ph.D. programs in Economics at the University of Missouri, Columbia and George Mason University. He was offered assistantships at both and plans to attend George Mason in fall 2010.

February 2010

  • Congratulations to Professors David Mitchell and Terrel Gallaway, both of whom have been awarded Summer Faculty Fellowships by the MSU Graduate College to conduct research during summer 2010. Professor Gallaway’s research project is “Economic Analysis of Light Pollution in the US,” while Professor Mitchell will be working on “The Incredible Shrinking Economy: Causes and Consequences of the Declining Missouri Economy.”

January 2010

  • January 14, 2010. The Spring semester started on January 11, and three days later the Economics Club held its first fundraiser of the year at Panera Bread Company! The Club offered door prizes and organized board games, and received a percentage of all purchases made from 5.00-8.00 pm.

 

December 2009

  • December 9, 2009. The Economics Club held a “Social” at the Springfield Brewing Company, well-attended by both faculty and students. The stated purpose—according to their flyer—was to have “an elegant evening full of stimulating discussion in the area of economics and other pertinent and intriguing ideas.” Hmmm!
  • December 1, 2009. Professor David Mitchell, Director of the Bureau of Economic Research, was invited to participate in the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City Regional Economic Roundtable, held in Denver, CO. Professor Mitchell’s presentation was entitled “The Missouri Economy: In Transition or in Decline?”

 

November 2009

  • November 21-22, 2009. Professor Sharmistha Self presented two papers at the Southern Economics Association Conference, in San Antonio, TX.
    • "Gender Differences in Healthcare Provisions for Children: Evidence from two Hindi Speaking States in India," (with Sajal Lahiri).
    • "Is There Gender Bias in Participation in Early Childhood Education Programs in Developing Countries? Role of Mother's Education," (with Richard Grabowski).November 11, 2009. Professor Tom Wyrick was an invited speaker at The Discussion Club, a non-profit organization in St. Louis, MO, that meets once a month to listen to an invited speaker. Past speakers have included Nobel Laureates, leading authors, public policy makers, political leaders, and scientists. Tom’s topic was, "Can the Fed Reverse Course in Time to Avoid Serious Inflation?"
  • November 9, 2009. Professors Terrel Gallaway, John Hoftyzer, Mahua Mitra and Tom Wyrick, all faculty members in the Economics Department, presented a panel discussion on “The Current Economic and Financial Crisis.” This was a Public Affairs Event, and attendance was open to all.
  • November 5, 2009. The Economics Club organized a screening of Michael Moore’s film, Capitalism: A Love Story at the Moxie Cinema. Outstanding students from our Principles of Economics classes, together with economics faculty and members of the Economics Club were invited to attend.

 

October 2009

  • October 27, 2009. Together with CHPA and CNAS, the Department of Economics sponsored a public lecture on “Climate Change: Science and Solutions,” presented by Dr. Rachel Cleetus and Nancy S. Cole from the Union of Concerned Scientists. This was a Public Affairs Event, and credit goes to Terrel Gallaway for arranging it.

 

  • October 22-24, 2009. Several faculty members presented papers at the 2009 Missouri Valley Economics Association Meetings held in Kansas City, MO. These included:
    • Julie Gallaway, "The Price of Textbooks: Do Students Really Care?" (with Michael Davis).
    • Reed Olsen, Terrel Gallaway, and David Mitchell, "Blinded by the Light: Economic Analysis of Severe Light Pollution."
    • Christina Robinson, "Retiree Health Insurance and Disengagement from a Career Job.”
    • David Mitchell, "Economic-Environmental Quality Tradeoffs and Income Distribution Goals: The Case of the Illinois River," (with Keith Willett).October 22-24, 2009. Per Norander, one of our instructors, was invited to participate in a symposium hosted by McGraw Hill in Orlando, FL on the use of technological innovations in Principles of Economics courses. Mr. Norander has since been asked to return, as a presenter, to similar symposiums in the future. 
  • October 22, 2009. Professor David Mitchell was an invited speaker at the Rotary Club International, Springfield, MO. His talk was entitled, “The Missouri Economy is Worse than You Think, But Not for the Reasons You Think.”
  • Professor Reed Olsen’s article, “The Effectiveness of an American History Education Program: Teacher Productivity and Middle and High School Student Achievement,” was published in the October 2009 issue of the American Institute of Higher Education Proceedings (with M. Cooper).

 

September 2009

  • September 23, 2009. MSU held its annual majors fair in the PSU Ballroom. The economics department was represented by all of its faculty members and some of our current majors. Students entered their names in a drawing to win “bearaphernalia”!
  • September 22, 2009. Professor Terrel Gallaway was one of the presenters in a state-wide workshop on the Economic Crisis. The workshop was arranged by the Missouri Council on Economic Education and was attended by K-12 teachers, with presentations being broadcast to attendees from Cape Girardeau, Kansas City, and Springfield. Terrel’s presentation, broadcast from Springfield, provided “A Timeline of the Economic Crisis.”
  • September 21, 2009. Professors Reed Olsen and Christina Robinson were two of the five panelists in a seminar on Health Care Issues. The seminar was part of MSU’s Faculty and Student Seminar series.
  • September 15, 2009. The Economics Club had arranged for Dr. Subhayu Bandyopadhyafrom the St. Louis Fedto make two presentations.The first was a research paper (co-authored with Todd Sandler) entitled, “Terrorism and Policy: An International Perspective,” which is forthcoming in Economica. Later in the evening Dr. Bandyopadhya presented a lecture on “Missouri and the US Economies.” Both presentations were open events.
  • September 12-13, 2009. Professor Terrel Gallaway spent the September 12th weekend participating in a climate-change workshop sponsored by the Union of Concerned Scientists. The workshop was held in Washington, DC and attendance was by invitation only. It brought together about a dozen economists from across the nation to meet with leading scientists and discuss the latest scientific findings and policy initiatives concerning global warming. Dr. Gallaway’s invitation was a result of the research that he and other faculty members (Reed Olsen and David Mitchell) have been doing on Light Pollution.
  • A paper by Ardeshir Dalal (co-authored with Moawia Alghalith) entitled, “The Choice Between Multiplicative and Additive Production Uncertainty,” appeared in the September 2009 issue of Economic Modeling.

 

August 2009

 

  • The department extends a warm welcome to its newest assistant professor, Dr. Christina Robinson. Dr. Robinson earned her PhD from North Carolina State University and will be teaching courses in Industrial Organization, Health Economics and Labor Economics.
  • Congratulations to Professors David Mitchell and Sharmistha Self! As of this academic year, both have been granted tenure and promotion to Associate Professor. While the process may have been occasionally stressful, the rest of us knew that the outcome was never in doubt. We are looking forward to being able to include them on committees for which they were previously ineligible!
  • A paper by Ardeshir Dalal (co-authored with Moawia Alghalith) entitled, “Production decisions under joint price and production uncertainty,” appeared in the August 2009 issue of the European Journal of Operational Research.