Alumni

News from the Department of Economics at Humboldt State University

Dear Alumnus/Alumna:

Greetings from the faculty of the Department of Economics at Humboldt State University! This is our first newsletter in many years, and we have a lot of news to share with you. Perhaps one of the biggest news items is the resurrection of the Department of Economics itself. About ten years ago the Economics program was joined with Business Administration and the two were governed as the School of Business and Economics. During that period, long-time Professors Kasun, Ruprecht, and Grobey retired after many years of service. With the hiring of new faculty and extraordinary growth in enrollment, majors, research, and community outreach, Economics has become significant enough again to govern itself as the Department of Economics. This important step will allow the faculty in Economics greater latitude in pursuing our goal of making the Department of Economics one of the top programs on campus.

For those of you who have been away from campus for a while, we would also like to introduce you to our faculty. Professor Steven Hackett received his Ph.D in Economics from Texas A&M University in 1989, and was hired in 1994 after five years at Indiana University. Hackett's teaching specialty is environmental and natural resource economics and microeconomics. Hackett's environmental and natural resource economics textbook is currently in its second edition and has been adopted by professors at universities around the country. His current research is focused on the economics of marine fisheries management. Assistant Professor and Chair Erick Eschker received his Ph.D in Economics from UC-Davis in 1997, and was hired in 1998 after a year at Bates College in Maine. His teaching specialty is economic history and macroeconomics. Eschker has recently published a paper on generational accounts, and is currently working on the economics of professional sports. Eschker has also recently taken over the Index of Economic Activity for Humboldt County from Professor Steven Hackett (who some of you may recall co-founded the Index with former Professor Tim Yeager, who is now at the Saint Louis Fed). Assistant Professor Beth Wilson received her Ph.D in Economics from the University of Oregon in 1995, and was hired in 2001 after several years at Xavier University in Ohio and Willamette University in Oregon. Wilson's teaching specialty is economies in transition and development, and she has designed a new service-learning course this fall semester that will give students practical experience in local economic development. Wilson has published several papers in real estate economics.

While the Economics major is of modest size, we believe our students are among the most talented on campus. Based on what we know of our alumni, it appears that approximately 20 to 25 percent of you have gone on to graduate or professional school over the last eight years (please complete our attached survey so that we can learn more about what our alumni are doing). Economics majors Hans Overturf, John Speka, and Cynthia Salazar won the Outstanding Academic Achievement Award in the former School of Business and Economics in three of the last four years of its existence. Salazar assisted Professor Wilson in her research and attended the American Real Estate Society conference in 2003. Also in 2003 John Manning, an Economics major, research assistant to Professor Hackett, and managing director of the Index of Economic Activity for Humboldt County from 2001-2003, won the Award for Achievement in an Academic Discipline for the College of Professional Studies. John has been accepted into the Ph.D program at UC-Santa Barbara for fall 2003. In 2003 Lara Remke, and Economics major and Balabanis Scholar, was a member of the Business Policy team that won the national Business Policy competition in San Diego in 2003.

Included in this packet is a survey. We would appreciate it if you would take a few moments and complete this survey and mail it back to us. All responses will be kept strictly confidential. We are very interested in learning about the careers and experiences of our alumni, and we will also have the results of the survey available for you to read on the Department of Economics website (www.humboldt.edu/economics). Currently we know very little about our graduates, and so your comments will help us better understand how well our program is performing.

If you are interested in making a gift to help support scholarships and other programs for Economics majors, we have included a form that you can use to process your gift. Note that you are under absolutely no obligation to make a gift. We urge you to complete the enclosed survey even if you are unable to make a gift at this time.

The Department of Economics will be hosting a reception for Economics alumni on Homecoming Weekend, October 11-12 2003. If you will be in town for Homecoming, please join us for an informal reception and mixer at the Department of Economics. We would love to meet alumni from earlier years, and to see some of our more recent graduates again. For location and details please RSVP at 707-826-3204 or econ@humboldt.edu.

We hope that this newsletter finds you in good health, and that you have a successful year.

Best wishes,

Erick Eschker, Steven Hackett, Beth Wilson