October 2000 Newsletter
O C T O B E R 2000
FROM THE HOME OFFICE
Questions, comments, or correspondence? Send items to the newsletter/alumni affairs coordinator, Jim Murphy, listed on the bottom of the page. New information is always valued.
In spring 2001, the Department of Economics at UNC celebrates its 100th year, beginning in 1901 as the Faculty of Commerce, later becoming the School of Commerce, then the School of Business Administration, and then the Department of Economics. To commemorate this event, the Department is planning to have a few special speakers during the spring and/or next fall 2001. Some of these could be our graduates who return and impress current graduate students and fill them with anticipation for completing their degrees and having successful careers. Or a speaker could address current issues in economics career case studies that would interest undergraduate majors. If any of you are interested, send us an email.
Also, on a weekend in April 2001, we will have a social, dinner, and speaker, perhaps including some panel discussions during the day. Again, if any of you are interested in being a speaker or panelist, let us know.
Most importantly, we wish to know if any of our former graduates anticipate coming to this celebration. Please send me mail or email on these matters:
1. would or would not be likely to come
2. would or would not like to be a speaker or panelist
3. rate the potential activities in preference order
___ Saturday afternoon social
___ Saturday evening dinner and speaker
___ Saturday concurrent sessions of speaker or panel
___ softball game against current graduate students
___ other (specify)
This fall is also the 25th anniversary of the move of the Department of Economics from within the School of Business to its position in the College of Arts and Sciences. Faculty from four different buildings all moved to offices together in Gardner Hall. Some graduate students and special projects kept offices on the third floor of Hanes Hall. We have continued in this space ever since with minor classroom and office re-arrangements and renovations. Someday we may get central air conditioning!
Some of you have asked about staff members that you remember. Here are some updates on staff who moved from the School of Business with the Department of Economics in 1975. Cheryl Mitchell left the Department in the late 1980’s to take a position in the Summer School. She has since retired at the end of December 1999. Betsy Pierce also left the Department in December 1992 and took a position in the Music Department where she still works. Sarah Mason continues to work in Economics and is the staff person for the editors of the Journal of Econometrics, Review of Development Economics, and JBES, in addition to some regular duties. Ann Durham worked in Economics continuously until her retirement in July 1999.
With an eye on the profession and an eye on the rate of progress toward degree, several changes have been made in the Ph.D. program. One of the department’s objectives in recent years has been to place more emphasis on writing and research and less on course work and written exams. For this reason, the faculty voted last year to change the field exam requirements. Rather than taking written exams in two fields, students now take an exam or write a paper in only the major field with the faculty in each field deciding upon the appropriate option. This fall students with major fields in industrial organization, labor, and microeconomic theory wrote papers; both the faculty and students thought it was worthwhile. We have also changed the requirements for the preliminary oral exam to place more emphasis on the defense of the proposed thesis project and less on general questioning on the major field.
A lot of you folks were just ahead of your time since you did not care all that much for our exams either.
The Department will be hosting a reception at the AEA meetings in New Orleans. You are welcome to visit us and each other on January 6, 5:30-7:30 pm, in the Grand Salon, C-16 of the Hilton New Orleans Riverside. There will be a general cash bar in the Grand Salon hallway.
STUDENT NEWS
Listed below are the names of last year’s first-year students. We appreciate your continuing interest in recommending to us persons who have become some of our best students.
Edward Ahern University of North Carolina
Oleg Bassov New Economic School, Moscow
Donald Chisholm Duke University
Deborah Goodson Furman University
Monifa Green Spelman College
Mohammad Jahan-Parvar Illinois State University
Daver Kahvecioglu Middle East Technical University
Gloria Kessler University of Kansas
Joon-Suk Lee University of Karlsruhe, Germany
Xin Li . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fudan University, China
Haiyong Liu Chinese Academy of Sciences
Ronald Oertel Queens University, Kingston
Sergiy Peredriy University of Kiev-Mohyla Academy
Jonathan Perry University of North Carolina
William Prieto University of Rochester
Alica Sparling Guilford College
New job market placements of our Ph.D. graduate students for 1999-2000 are shown below. This was a great year for clearing out the upper halls.
Sarah Broome University of Connecticut
Lewis Davis. . . .. . ..Visiting, University of New Hampshire
John Eiler. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Department of the Treasury
Paul Hutchinson UNC Carolina Population Center
Michael Lokshin. . . . . . . .Development Economics Group, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The World Bank
Debin Ma University of Missouri at St. Louis
Dominic Mancini Food and Drug Administration
Kellie Maske Appalachian State University
Neal McCall. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Visiting, UNC-CH
Jonathan Nail. . . . . . . .Micronomics Inc., Washington D.C.
Saif Rahman Ohio Wesleyan University
Alicia Robb Federal Reserve Board of Governors
Luis Sosa-Sandoval Colorado School of Mines
Tong Wongwatanasin. . . . . . . . .. Asian Development Bank
Taner Yigit St. Louis University
Ozkan Zengin SAS Institute
The number of Ph.D. degrees in Economics awarded in 1999-2000 was 21. Extra attention, demands, and coercion by faculty and renewed dedication by students led to this accomplishment. The major field areas were 4 in labor, 2 in health, 3 in macro, 4 in international, 5 in development, and 3 in industrial organization. All students have strengths in micro, macro, and econometrics.
Two awards for teaching by graduate students were made this year (cash prizes too).
Benjamin Balak was the recipient of the Graduate Prize in Economics.
Shane T. Raines was the recipient of the Vijay Bhagavan Award in Economics for 99-00.
FACULTY NEWS
Professor David Guilkey completed his five year term as Chair of the Department at the end of June. Professor John Akin was appointed Chair of the Department effective July 1, 2000.
Assistant Professor Evan Anderson was granted a research and study leave for the fall semester. During his leave he worked on several research projects including distorted linear quadratic economies, computational methods for robust dynamics economies, robust portfolio choice, and robust heterogeneous agents with incomplete markets.
Professor Arthur Benavie retired effective June 30, 2000. He was appointed to a half-time fixed-term position to continue teaching in the Department.
Professor William Darity, Jr. was awarded a $500,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in support of the Minority Undergraduate Research Assistant Program. Professor Darity is Director of this 10-week summer research program that brings 18 outstanding students to UNC. The objective of the program is to encourage these gifted undergraduates to pursue doctoral studies in the humanities and social sciences with the aim of entering the ranks of the professorate.
Professor Alfred Field was selected to Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers, 2000.
Professor James Friedman was on leave during the fall semester to continue research with Jacques Thisse at CORE, Catholic University of Louvain in Brussels, Belgium.
Eric Ghysels a prominent econometrician/macroeconomist, was hired to fill the Edward M. Bernstein Chair in the Department effective July 1, 2000. His previous appointment was Professor of Economics and Finance at Pennsylvania State University.
Dr. Bernstein, now deceased, taught on our faculty in the early 1940’s. He acted as the U.S. Representative for the Bretton Woods Conference and Agreement and was a consultant (EMB financial letters) to world-wide financial institutions for about 30 years.
Professor David Guilkey for two consecutive years has won the Department of Economics Excellence in Graduate Teaching Award.
Professor James Murphy received a Meritorious Service Award from the North Carolina Association of Summer Sessions.
Assistant Professor Alexandre Kovalenkov was awarded a Junior Faculty Development Award effective January 1, 2000.
Professor Michael Salemi won the Department of Economics Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award. He was a finalist for the Board of Governors Award for Excellence in Teaching, 2000. Professor Salemi is Chair of the Committee on Economic Education of the American Economic Association.
Phanindra Wunnava, Professor of Economics at Middlebury College, spent a sabbatical year in the Department to perform collaborative research with Professor Darity.
LETTER FROM THE CHAIR
John Akin, October, 2000
I am happy that one of my first acts as Chair of the UNC Economics Department is to write this short message for our graduate program alumni. As many of you may have heard, David Guilkey, after five exceptional years of leadership, has returned to his teaching and research and left the Chair duties to me. I welcome this chance, early on, to communicate with all of you. Many of you I know already, that is one of the positive things about being old enough to have been at UNC over 25 years, and I hope to get to know as many of the rest of you over the next five years as possible. You obviously are an important component of the Department’s world image and its legacy. We at Chapel Hill try to keep up with you and your lives and careers, but it is somewhat difficult not to miss things. Please keep us informed about yourselves and your families when you can.
This should be another exciting and active year in the life of the Department. It is a landmark academic year in that in the second semester we will be entering the year of the 100th anniversary of the Department, the year 2001. We are planning a set of activities to commemorate the milestone and will be communicating details to you as the planning proceeds. For now, I will simply alert you of the event and promise to publicize plans as they become solidified.
As was mentioned in the letter from the Chair last year, we searched for a renowned scholar to fill the Edward M. Bernstein Chair in Economics. To our good fortune we were able to recruit Eric Ghysels, one of the foremost financial statisticians in the world. Eric has arrived and he and his wife, Lutgard, have found a home off Piney Mountain Road. Those who are interested can see Eric’s homepage at http://econ.la.psu.edu/~eghysels/, and also peruse his vitae.
Our enrollments and number of majors have more than doubled in the last five years. Partly as a result of that growth; we have received permission to recruit either three or four new faculty members this year. If we are successful, I suppose I will have the difficult task of finding them offices.
As in past years, we will be having a reception at the American Economic Association meetings. Please drop in, say hello, and enjoy a chance to socialize with old friends and even make new ones.
I will close by urging you (I hope not in an overbearing way) to consider contributing to the Department’s endowment fund. As one of the University’s fund raisers told me recently, “It is not at all difficult to ask people for money if you truly believe in the purpose for which you are asking.” I do truly believe that outside funding for the Economics Department allows us to better fulfill our roles of teaching and research. I also believe that economic literacy and knowledge and the training of bright students to carry on with teaching and research in the future are among the most valuable activities in academia. I am convinced that economics offers ways of thinking and analyzing that are among the most helpful, both for those who learn them and for the communities and nations in which they live. So if you are considering making a contribution to a worthy cause, please keep the UNC Economics Department in mind. Any funds donated to UNC can be designated for the Department in general or for specific areas or activities of the Department.
I hope you all have a good year and that I get to see many of you during the course of the year.
ALUMNI NEWS
In each item, the year given in parentheses below is the year that the individual entered our graduate program. Since years of completing a degree may vary 3-4 years, this gives a clearer remembrance to those who entered the program near the same time.
Graduate alumni have generously returned support to the Department by becoming noted economists and sharing glory, by saying good things about the Department at national and regional meetings, by suggesting our program to high-quality students, and by sending donations. The Department has a special fund for the gifts, and it is used for items that enhance the educational program and ease some of the hard life for current graduate students. It helps with updating in-house graduate student computer services, for mailing these newsletters, for travel support to students giving papers, for extra award stipends, etc.
Each gift is truly appreciated as it is non-state flexible use money. If you are making a gift to UNC-Chapel Hill via any alumni development program, please note that you can always designate your gift for “Economics.”
James Foust (1963) first was employed as an assistant professor at the University of Indiana. He went to Indiana National Bank as a vice-president for a decade. Then, he joined the faculty ranks again for 15 years at the University of Indianapolis. Jim retired last year and enjoys time to travel seeing three children and five grandchildren. Email CONTACT: jdfoust@sprynet.com, living in Noblesville, IN.
A few sad updates need to be honored. Ralph C. Hon (1927) our second Ph.D. graduate, and longtime faculty member at Rhodes College in Memphis, is deceased.
Leonard J. Arrington (1939) died in February 1999 at age 81, living most recently in Salt Lake City.
Joseph Welborn (1947) died on December 18, 1998. He was a retired V.P. of Old Republic Life Insurance Co. in Chicago. His daughter had earned two degrees from UNC-CH.
Jeff Baker (1974) died in March 1999 from cancer. His last positions were as Provost at Carroll College in Montana and President at Luther College in Iowa.
From the south island of New Zealand, Alfred Guender (1987) has been in the Economics Department of the University of Canterbury since 1993. Last year he was promoted to senior lecturer and works in macro and money. He also is an organic grower of fruits and vegetables. CONTACT: Dept. of Economics, Univ. of Canterbury, P.B. 4800, Christchurch, New Zealand. (a.guender@econ.canterbury.ac.nz)
Chomploen Chandr-Ruang-Phen (1967) tries to be retired from Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, but she participates as an invited special lecturer in financial institutions and management. CONTACT: 150/3 Tiwanon 46, Nonthaburi 11000, Thailand.
We received some corrections from the last newsletter. The correct P.O. Box for Mark Schmitz (1969) is 682830 in Park City, Utah 84068. Email CONTACT: drauto@aol.com.
Also, from Yun-Hwan Kim (1982) senior economist at the Asian Development Bank, the name of his second son is Kieu. Email CONTACT: hykim@mail.asiadevbank.org.
Jee Hyung Lee (1991) is now a senior researcher at an electronics and telecommunications research institute in Korea. Email CONTACT: leejeehy@etri.re.kr .
Art Padilla (1975) who worked at UNC system administration headquarters and taught part-time in our Department, has been on the faculty at NC State for the past decade. He has been awarded a Fulbright for this year as a senior scholar at the Catholic University of Santa Domingo in the Dominican Republic with lectures also scheduled in Martinique and the Cayman Islands. Being in the area of labor and poverty, this will be a first-hand experience. CONTACT: School of Management, NC State Univ. Raleigh, NC.
Another local area update: Bruce Caldwell (1974) at UNC-Greensboro was awarded the L.M. Lackmann Research Fellowship from L.S.E. for this academic year. Bruce, wife Leslie, daughter Claire, and son Sam are all living now in the Primrose Hill area of London. Bruce is working on a book on F. A. Hayek and finishing his term as President of the History of Economics Society. Email CONTACT: bjcaldwe@uncg.edu .
Brian Cody (1983) first worked at the Fed in Philadelphia, then with Coopers & Lybrand for a few years. Since 1993 he has been with Arthur Andersen in St. Louis. Last year he was made partner in the tax and business advisory services, heading up the group on transfer pricing. He would like to hear from old friends. He and his wife, Jeanne, have three children, a boy born in 1989, and girls born in 1991 and 1994. CONTACT: Arthur Andersen LLP, 1010 Market St. St. Louis, MO 63101 (brian.j.cody@us.arthurandersen.com).
An email message from Muh-Chung Lin (1995) reports nothing more than an address. We would like to know more. CONTACT: 5482 S. Greenwood Ave. # 403, Chicago, IL 60615.
More email from Florian Strassberger (1989) gives his current position as head of sectoral analysis in the Economics department of DG Bank, Frankfurt. His doctoral dissertation was completed at the Free University of Berlin. His latest family addition is a third son, Patrick, born in 1998. CONTACT: im Hainchen 10d-61462 Koenigstein, Germany (florian_strassberger@dgbank.de).
From Bill Goffe (1981) whose website, resources for economists, is part of the internet bible, comes the news of tenure in 1999 at the University of Southern Mississippi. He is also an assistant editor of the Journal of Economic Literature. CONTACT: Dept. of Economics, Southern Station Box 5072, Hattiesburg, MS 39406 (bill.goffe@usm.edu).
Ana Maria Turner Lomperis (1975) has held positions visiting at a number of universities, including UNC, Duke, NC State, Tufts, SUNY at New Paltz, and Maryland. She had a research position at LSU and faculty and administrative positions at St. Louis University. Currently, she is an associate professor in Health Administration and an associate dean in the School of Public Health at St. Louis University. Ana Maria says that your good economics students have an opportunity in Public Health and should email her for information about the great program at St. Louis U. CONTACT: School of Public Health, 3663 Lindell Blvd., St. Louis Univ., St. Louis, MO 63108-3342 (lomperat@slu.edu).
Alumni news from my alma mater indicates that Michael Johnson (1972) professor of business and management, was named a year ago to the post of associate vice-president for academic affairs at Spring Hill College. Mike has been on the faculty there since moving from the University of New Orleans in 1986. CONTACT: Spring Hill College, 4000 Dauphin St., Mobile, AL 36608 (johnson@shc.edu).
Richard Duvall (1958) went from our Ph.D. program to a faculty position at the University of Texas and then to the University of Michigan. From 1966 to 1982 he was at the University of Tennessee in the Department of Statistics and serving as professor and Head of the Department of Finance. From 1982-99 he was president of Sedgwick, Inc., a financial and actuarial consulting firm. Although now retired, he does consulting in business valuation and insurance and risk management. CONTACT: 5054 Villa Crest Dr., Nashville, TN 37220-1425 (ricduvall@cs.com).
Still Dean and Professor at Ewha Woman’s University, Hong-sik Ahn (1978) reports that his daughter, Hyunjoo, is a law school student and his son, Dalhoon, is in college and is a “professional GO (Baduk) player.” I hope that arouses your curiosity. CONTACT: Dean of Faculty and Academic Affairs, Ewha Woman’s Univ., Seoul, Korea (ahs@mm.ewha.ac.kr).
Now retired after several jobs with General Electric is William Vinson (1948). He and his wife, Mary, have a daughter, Gay (now a lawyer living in Asheville, NC) and a son, Bill, who lives in Hillsborough, NC, and works in Greensboro. William began as a statistician for GE, worked in GE headquarters, in quality/costs in the aircraft engine division, and back as a corporate consultant at GE headquarters. CONTACT: Box 610, Davidson, NC 28036 (wdv1tennis@prodigy.net).
Margaret Grady Menache (1975) says she has wandered far from Economics but the training in public policy and statistics proves invaluable. She worked at Northrop for eleven years and at Duke University for seven. She now does evaluation on health of inhaled air pollutants. Also, she is active with showings of her work as a photographer. CONTACT: Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute, Albuquerque, NM 87106 (mag@rt66.com).
After visiting positions at Georgia State and Oberlin, Steven Yamarik (1991) is now assistant professor at the University of Akron. He works in growth theory and regional economics. CONTACT: Dept. of Economics, Univ. of Akron, Akron, OH 44325-1908.
The president of Sasso and Soto is Benjamin Sasso (1980). CONTACT: apdo 1244, San Pedro Montes de Oca, 2050, Costa Rica (benjamin@sasso.co.cr).
J. Edward Jackson (1947) received his Ph. D. from Virginia Tech after his M.A. from Carolina. His first position was as a statistician for Eastman Kodak for whom he worked 37 years. He was self-employed from 1985-91. He and his wife, Suzanne, continue to live in New York. They have three children and two grandchildren. CONTACT: 16 Kettering Dr., Rochester, NY 14612.
“Being chair is no fun” says Stuart Lynn (1966) now chair of the Department of Economics and Global Studies. [An extraordinarily large proportion of our graduates seem to assume this chore.] Stuart is working on a survey textbook in development and research on sustainability issues as they impact labor within the firm. CONTACT: Department of Economics and Global Studies, Assumption College, Worcester, MA 01615 (slynn@assumption.edu).
Along these lines, Homer Erekson (1980) has coauthored a book, Sustainability Perspectives for Resources and Business in 1999 and has two recent articles in Applied Economics and Ecological Economics. Homer is doing administrative tasks at Miami University (Ohio) as an associate dean and chairing a task force on business and the environment for the Council on Ethics in Economics. He recently received a $277,000 grant from the EPA to study economic valuation related to ecological risk assessment. CONTACT: Professor of Economics, Laws Hall 104, Miami University, Oxford, OH 45056 (ereksooh@muohio.edu).
Peter Parker (1979) and wife, Catherine, have a son, Nick, who is a student at the Naval Academy and a daughter, Ellie, who is a first-year college student now. His first position was as a statistical programmer at the Census Bureau. He now seems to be doing multiple jobs as a senior computer programmer analyst for the International Trade Administration. He also runs a computer consulting company, Perfect Programmer Enterprises, see http://members.aol.com/pparker923 for details. CONTACT: US. Dept. of Commerce, Room 3100, 1401 Constitution Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20230 (pparker923@aol.com).
Still retired and keeping us updated is Woodrow Pate (1941) who studied under Professors Harry Wolf and Milton Heath. CONTACT: 204 Citra Dr., Palatka, FL 32077.
Another professor emeritus, effective last year from Duke University, is Vlad Treml (1958). He studied under Professors Jim Blackman, Heath, and Jim Ingram. CONTACT: 603 Long Leaf Dr., Chapel Hill, NC 27514 (treml@econ.duke.edu).
Also living locally now and retired from Exxon since 1986 is John Ryan (1948). He studied under Professors Heath, Harold Hotelling, and Dudley Cowden. He continued as a consultant in the Exxon Law Department through 1992. CONTACT: 706 Kensington Dr., Chapel Hill, NC 27514 (jmorryan@aol.com).
Another student of Professor Heath, and Professors Wolf, Lowell Ashby, and Paul Guthrie is Richard Rowan (1957) now professor emeritus from Penn. CONTACT: 319 Vance Hall, Wharton School, Univ. of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104 (rowan@wharton.upenn.edu).
Ray (Bob) Roberts (1954) also studied under Professors Wolf and Guthrie. After early positions at Old Dominion, Duke, and Winthrop, he served on the faculty at Furman University from 1969-95. Bob was chair three times (go for it, Stuart) and a dean and a V.P. CONTACT: 102 Dundee Lane, Greenville, SC 29617.
Working as an economist in the international finance division of the Federal Reserve Board is Frank Warnock (1994). CONTACT: 16605 Frontenac Terrace, Derwood, MD 20855 (frank.warnock@frb.gov).
Brad Schwartz (1978) has tired of the traveling game as a consultant for the World Bank and Asian Development Bank. Since 1987 he has worked in more than a dozen developing countries, mostly in southeast Asia. Brad has returned to teaching and is a visiting associate professor at UNC-Chapel Hill. CONTACT: 621 Damascus Church Rd., Chapel Hill, NC 27516 (bschwartz@nc.rr.com).
Are any of you interested in a visiting position and want to live in Chapel Hill again? Send a resume and letter of interest. You never know when a need may occur.
NEW INFORMATION REQUESTED
Thanks to those who have sent information. This was a good response year, but let’s make the 100th birthday edition even fuller. Send materials anytime during the year–letter, vita, email. The back page is a form you may use for mailing. If you have submitted a form before, you only need to fill in items that are new or changed. Remember that when your item appears, it may be one-year-old news, but I assure you that your item catches the attention of someone. You can mail your material to Jim Murphy, Economics Dept. CB # 3305, UNC-CH, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3305; or email to Jim_Murphy@unc.edu.
UNC ECONOMICS GRADUATE PROGRAM ALUMNI FILE UPDATE October, 2000
- Name – – As UNC Student:_________________________________________________________________________
Current (if different):_______________________________________________________________________
2. Family/household demographics you wish to include:
3. Current Address (Home) ______________________________________
Phone ( )______________ _____________________________________
Email ________________________________________ ____________________________________
4. Current Position Title ____________________________________
Phone ( )______________ Address_____________________________________
Email ________________________________________ _____________________________________
______________________________________
5. Comments, questions, other information:
*****************************************************************************************************
Thesis/Dissertation Director:__________________________________________________________________________
Other influential, worthwhile, or favorite faculty you wish to mention:
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
7. First Position After Leaving UNC: Title______________________________________________________
Employer____________________________________________________
8. Other Career Positions:
Title______________________ Title______________________ Title_______________________
Employer__________________ Employer__________________ Employer___________________
Years_____________________ Years_____________________ Years______________________
9. Year Entered UNC Graduate Program:__________
*****************************************************************************************************