News and Events

Kolver Hernandez has joined the department as a new Assistant Professor specializing in monetary economics and macroeconomics. Prof. Hernandez, a native of Oaxaca, Mexico received his PhD from Boston College in 2004. He taught at UD as a visitor in 2005 and 2006 before returning to Mexico to fulfill a teaching obligation at CIDE, a presitigious university in Mexico City. Prof. Hernandez will be working with the Fed Challenge team, picking up where he left off in 2006. We are delighted to welcome Kover back to UD.

Prof. Burton Abrams was recognized as the 2009 winner of the Lerner Scholar Award, given annually to the outstanding researcher in the Lerner College of Business and Economics.  Abrams is a nationally-recognized scholar in the field of public choice.  This is the third consecutive year that an Economics Department faculty member won this award.  Profs. Farley Grubb and Larry Seidman were previous winners.”

Vice-Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board Presents Annual Hutchinson Lecture, April 20, 2009.

Donald Kohn,Vice-Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, presented the annual Hutchinson Lecture in Macroeconomics to a packed house in 115 Purnell Hall, April 20, 2009.  In his talk, “The Economic Prospect,” Kohn struck a cautiously optimistic tone.  After the talk, Kohn answered questions on a wide range of topics.  He acknowledged the need for stronger and more effective regulation of financial institutions.  Earlier in the day, Kohn met with UD students who were members of the UD Fed Challenge Team that won the sub-regional Fed Challenge competition in Baltimore in Nov., 2008.  Read more about Vice-Chairman Kohn’s talk on UDAILY   A podcast is available here.

Economics Undergrads Victorious  in Fed Challenge

In just its third year of competition, the UD Dept of Economics Fed Challenge Team won the regional competition at the Baltimore Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, November 18, 2008.  The UD team included undergraduate students William Dowd, Alex Eiermann, Claudia Flores, Scott Ohlmacher, Darren Weaver, and alternate David Bendet.  Vera Brusentsev, visiting assistant professor of economics, coached the students, with additional support provided by economics faculty members Jeffrey Miller, James Butkiewicz and Bert Levin.  

Last year the UD team was the 1st runner-up. Congratulations to all the students and their faculty coaches. Read more on UDAILY.  

2009 Honors Day Award Winners Announced 

The Department of Economics proudly recognizes the winners of undergraduate awards to be presented on Honors Day, May 9, 2009: 

• Lanier Prize for highest GPA for graduating senior: 
  Scott Ohlmacher and Lauren Wansor.
• Levin Prize:
  Scott Ohlmacher
• Distinguished Panel of Seniors: 
  William Dowd,Alexander Eiermann, Philip Margiotta, Scott Ohlmacher, Gina Siddiqui, Valentin Verdier and Lauren Wansor
• Hutchison Scholars(top juniors):
  Valian Afshar,Samantha Boyhan, Stephen Ernst, Joseph Falandays and James Ferguson.
• Lanier Scholarship(top sophomores):
  Alyssa Colby and Zeynab Mohammed.

Matt Martin (PhD, 1997) has been named one of the 2009 recipients of the Lerner College Alumni Award of Excellence. Matt currently serves as Senior Vice President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond and Charlotte Branch Regional Executive. For more on Matt and his accomplishments, click here. Matt will receive his award at UD Reunion Weekend, Friday, June 5 at 6:30 in Lerner Hall.

Economics Department celebrates 50th Completed Ph.D.

The Economics Department recognized the 50th completed PhD October 24 in its 13-year history when Jim Markham successfully defended his thesis.Read more on UDAILY about Jim and many of the other 49.

2009 Graduate Student Awards Announced

The faculty of the Department of Economics are very pleased to announce the winners of the 2009 Graduate Student Awards. Each award consists of a plaque and a monetary prize, made possible by generous support from the faculty and alumnae.

• The Graduate Scholar Award is given to a graduating MA/MS student for outstanding academic achievement in the classroom. The 2009 winner of the Graduate Scholar Award is Graham Robinson.
• The Graduate Research Award is given to the graduating MA/MS student with the best MA research paper or MS thesis. This year’s co-winners are Kelley Appleman for her thesis, “Measuring the Recreational Use Value of Migratory Shorebirds,” and Drew Sawyer for his paper, “The Demand for Carbon Emission Intensity vis-à-vis an International Carbon Tax.” George Parsons was the faculty supervisor for Kelley’s paper. Laurence Seidman supervised Drew’s paper.
• The Dissertation Award is given to the graduating Ph.D. student with the outstanding dissertation. The 2009 winner is James Markham for his dissertation, “CEO Entrenchment Versus Boards of Directors: Performance Is Not All That Matters to Turnover,” written under the direction of Prof. William Latham.
• The Graduate Student Excellence in Teaching Award is given to a Teaching Assistant for outstanding teaching performance in the classroom. The 2009 winner is Stela Stefanova, who is being recognized for her work in teaching ECON151 since the fall of 2005. Stela previously won a University of Delaware Excellence in Teaching Award for Graduate Students in 2008.