Graduate School discussion

Scott Loveridge will present the essentials of graduate school this Friday (October 19) at 2:40 in Dewing 103. Scott is a professor in MSU's department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics and director of the North Central Regional Center for Rural Development. He graduated from Kalamazoo College in 1980.  Many recent K alums have benefited from his advice.

Topics for his session include:

Broad trends in grad education
Why grad school?
How to find a program
Academic vs. professional advanced degrees
Basics of standardized tests for grad school in the social sciences
How admissions committees look at standardized test scores (not as straightforward as you might think)
Pros and cons of “taking a break” from your education
Funding sources
Finding an advisor & advisor relationships
Application best practices & common mistakes
How to structure a visit to programs of interest
Best practices after you are admitted

More information on Scott Loveridge, see his MSU webpage.

He and other alums plan to participate in the CCPD's PDI Networking Reception later that afternoon.

Value of a college education

About a hundred years ago, a professor of moral philosophy at Oxford, John Alexander Smith, got to the nub of the matter.  "Gentlemen," he said to the incoming class (the students were all men in those days), "Nothing that you will learn in the course of your studies will be of the slightest possible use to you in after life-- save only this-- that if you work hard and intelligently you should be able to detect when a man is talking rot, and that, in my view, is the main, if not the sole, purpose of education."  Americans tend to prefer a two-syllable synonym, bullshit, for the one-syllable Anglicism rot-- and so we might say that the most important thing one can acquire in college is a well-functioning bullshit meter.

Andrew Delbanco
College: What It Was, Is, and Should Be
2012

page 29

Winter Schedule 2013

Our updated plans for Winter:

101 Principles of Economics

150 Principles of Accounting

160 Business Statistics

205 Principles of Management

215 Managerial Accounting

295 Topics: Fiscal and Monetary Policy in Time of Crisis

295 Topics: International Trade

305 Intermediate Microeconomics

3XX Advertising and Promotion

355 Investments

490 Senior Seminar: Innovation

Economics Faculty Position

The Department of Economics and Business at Kalamazoo College invites applications for a tenure-track position at the rank of Assistant Professor in Economics, with preferred areas of research and teaching in macroeconomics and monetary economics or a closely related field. Specific teaching contributions will include principles of economics; intermediate macroeconomic theory; money & banking and financial services or other related topics, such as monetary economics, financial economics or investments; as well as contributions to departmental offerings in mathematical and quantitative methods. Moreover, the candidate should exhibit flexibility and capacity for shaping courses around her/his areas of specialization that would serve the College's Shared Passages Seminar program (i.e., first year, sophomore, or senior seminars).

See the full position description at https://www.kzoo.edu/economics/search/

SIP meeting

We will have a meeting for Juniors considering a SIP in Economics or Business, 2nd week Thursday during common time.

Thursday April 5th
11:30 am
Dewing 311

We will discuss SIP options and requirements. Internships for experiential SIPs will need to be registered with the CCPD this Spring. You will have an opportunity to ask questions about the SIP and we will have our 2012-3 SIP manual available.

Tentative schedule 2012-3

For students looking beyond Spring quarter, I've listed the department's current plans for next year. These are tentative and subject to change. Please note that neither National Income & Business Cycles nor Theory of the Firm will be offered. All majors should plan to take Econ 305 & 306 (Intermediate Micro and Macro), which do have a math prerequisite.

Fall 2012

101 Principles of economics
150 Principles of Accounting
160 Business Statistics
220 Principles of Marketing
235 Environmental and Resource Econ
280 Law and Economics
306 Intermediate Macroeconomics
350 Corporate Finance
plus 2 electives TBA

Winter 2013

101 principles of economics
160 Business Statistics
205 Principles of Management
245 Money and Banking
215 Managerial Accounting
305 Intermediate Microeconomics
306 Intermediate Macroeconomics
355 Investments
415 Public Finance
490 Senior Seminar in Business
plus 2 electives TBA

Spring 2013

101 principles of economics
150 Principles of Accounting
2xx Economics for Global Travelers
280 Industrial Organization & Public Policy
305 Intermediate Microeconomics
360 Econometrics
480 Financial Statement Analysis
490 Corp. Enviro. Sustainability
490 Financial Crisis & Eurozone
plus 2 electives TBA

Follow us on Facebook

You can follow the Kalamazoo College Department of Economics and Business on Facebook at:

http://www.facebook.com/KzooEcon

Meeting for Students

The Department will hold a meeting for all students interested in Economics and Business Tuesday February 7 at 11:30 am in Dewing 305. Please come if you can.

Economics Faculty 1-year position

The Department of Economics invites applications for a one-year, full-time sabbatical replacement beginning Fall 2012. We are looking for candidates with teaching experience in principles, plus some field of specialization, and especially interested in candidates who can teach macroeconomics and/or international economics. Candidates are expected to have high and proven aptitude and strong interest in teaching and are willing to participate fully in a liberal arts environment that emphasizes close student-faculty interaction. The normal teaching load is two courses each quarter, with three quarters per year. Ph.D. is preferred, but advanced ABDs considered. Candidates must mail a cover letter, curriculum vitae, statement of teaching philosophy, undergraduate and graduate transcripts (unofficial acceptable), plus three letters of recommendation to Professor Ahmed Hussen, Chair, Department of Economics and Business, Kalamazoo College, Kalamazoo, MI, 49006. . Applications must be received by March 1, 2012 to receive full consideration. Kalamazoo College is committed to increasing the diversity of the college community and the curriculum. The college strongly encourages candidates who would further contribute to this end. For more information about Kalamazoo College, see our website at www.kzoo.edu.