The past year was another eventful one, as the new era of economics at Notre Dame continues to unfold.
Our department grew yet again with the hiring of microeconomic theorist Terry Johnson from Maryland, whose research focuses on designing mechanisms to connect buyers and sellers in markets where each is seeking the best match.
The first class of our doctoral program graduated and found employment, including positions at Fairfield University and the Bureau of the Census. Our current group of graduate students is exceptional.
- Luke Chicoine had an article accepted for publication in a leading field journal.
- Huyen Pham won a dissertation-year fellowship from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation (one of only 15 nationwide).
- Chad Curtis and Beth Munnich won the two first-place Notre Dame Graduate Student Research Symposium Awards in the social sciences category.
- Curtis and Regan Deonanan each won Kaneb Outstanding Graduate Student Teacher Awards in 2011.
Our undergraduate majors are excelling as well, with prestigious postgraduate placements ranging from Harvard University to Goldman Sachs.
Our faculty continue to publish cutting-edge research that allows Notre Dame to inform important debates on social policy. Chris Waller remains on leave at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and continues to attend Federal Open Market Committee meetings where U.S. monetary policy is made. The research of Abigail Wozniak, Kasey Buckles, Bill Evans, Dan Hungerman, Eric Sims, and Jim Sullivan has received substantial coverage in the national media, including The New York Times and CNN.
As active researchers, our faculty bring to the classroom and to conversations with students the latest knowledge in the field and a passion for inquiry. This approach has been recognized with numerous teaching awards, most recently in 2011 when Bill Leahy won a prestigious Notre Dame Joyce Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching.
The future of economics at Notre Dame has never been brighter.
Rich Jensen
Gilbert F. Schaefer Professor and Chairperson
Department of Economics