We welcome five new faculty members to the Economics Department this fall.
Ja
ne Cooley Fruewirth is an Assistant Professor with specialization in labor economics, the economics of education, and social economics. She has her Ph.D. from Duke University, and has had previous professorial appointments at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and at University of Cambridge in the UK. She is very happy to be back in North Carolina, but sees it through new eyes: the geography of Chapel Hill is quite different for a graduate student than for a mother of two small children. She will be teaching both graduate and undergraduate classes.
Luca Flabbi is an Associate Professor with specialization in labor economics, most notably search models of employment choices. He received his Ph.D. from New York University, and previously taught at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. He will also teach both graduate and undergraduate classes. He is a native of Italy; the biggest adjustment to US higher education for him is beginning work in mid-August. His relations in Italy are still at the beach!
Jon
athan Williams is an Assistant Professor with specializations in industrial organization and applied econometrics. His work on interfirm competition in the airline industry is well known, and he is now turning to the study of the telecommunications and pharmaceutical industries. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Virginia, and taught previously at the University of Georgia. He and his family have settled in quickly as Tar Heels here in Chapel Hill. He will be offering classes both for graduate students and undergraduates.
Kyle Woodward is an Assistant Professor in Microeconomic Theory. He has just completed his Ph.D. at UCLA, and his research agenda 
is focused upon the behavior of bidders in auctions. He’s moving to Chapel Hill from Denver, where his wife has been completing her graduate degree. His first impression of Chapel Hill? It’s hot! He will assist in teaching the core microeconomics course to graduate students, and will also offer advanced undergraduate courses in microeconomics.
Kalina Staub has joined us as a Lecturer in Economics. She also has her Ph.D. from Duke University, and is returning to North Carolina from the University of Toronto in Canada. (In her case, the summer heat is a welcome feature of the place.) She will teach labor courses for undergraduates, and has also developed a “Gender and Economics” course that she will offer to advanced undergraduates.
We’ve had two departures as well. Professor Richard Froyen has retired after a long and productive career as a researcher and instructor in macroeconomics. He has served generously as a mentor to junior faculty, graduate students and undergraduates over his 40 years in the Economics Department, and we will miss his contributions. Assistant Professor Clement Joubert has resigned from the Economics Department to take a researcher position at the World Bank in Washington, DC: we wish him the best for his continuing career.