The Economics Department

The department prides itself on the diversity of interests and fields of its faculty. All of the faculty are actively involved in research and publication activities, and are active in international, national, and regional professional societies. Faculty members have also served in positions with the national and state governments, and international institutions.

The Department of Economics seeks excellence in research, teaching, and service. Both faculty and students are responsible for carrying out this mission.

In RESEARCH, the standard is refereed scholarly publications in leading journals and books. By-products of research excellence should be (1) participation at national and international meetings; (2) success in winning external funding; and (3) integration of research into our undergraduate and graduate courses, along with student involvement in that research. We encourage creative scholarship of any kind, on any topic. We believe in and support collaborative research and publication, and we pledge to maintain a collegial research atmosphere.

In TEACHING, the standard is effective, committed teaching at all levels -- principles, intermediate, advanced undergraduate, M.A. and Ph.D. While students have primary responsibility for their own educations, we consider it our duty to provide them with diligent, competent guidance. Excellence in teaching is not only compatible with but is actually strengthened by high-quality research, provided we always remember that good teaching matters. Giving Ph.D. students teaching experience is important, but it must not take precedence over staffing our courses, especially in principles and intermediate theory, with experienced economists who offer sound intuition along with analytical technique.

In SERVICE, we recognize our unique obligation to offer economic expertise to the citizens and governments of Connecticut, the nation, and the world. We also have obligations to serve the national and international communities of scholars and the University community. These obligations are in fact an opportunity: High-quality service both depends on and spawns high-quality research, and it also sharpens teaching skills by exposing faculty to different audiences.