News

Personnel News
John Wade is serving as Acting Associate Dean in the College of Arts and Sciences. Since January 1, he has also served as Acting Chair of History. Frank O'Connor filled in as Acting Chair of Economics during the academic year. Dr. Donna Ingram (Ph. D., Cornell University) served as Visiting Assistant Professor.

Bob Houston was promoted to Associate Professor. He and John Harter were granted tenure.

Fred Ruppel has been awarded a sabbatical leave for 2004-05. Beginning in October, he will spend eight months at Slovak Agricultural University as a Fulbright Scholar.

Honors
Fred Ruppel was chosen as a Fullbright Scholar for 2004-05. http://www.prm.eku.edu/ekunews/?article=244

Emily Patterson received the award for the best student paper at the Kentucky Economic Association in 2003 for her paper “The Demand for Private Schooling in Kentucky.” The award is sponsored by South-Western Publishing Company. Emily graduated in Spring 2003 and is now on a fellowship in the Ph.D. program at the University of Kentucky.

Also noteworthy, Brian Cook presented his paper "Okun's Law and Ockham's Razor," at the annual meeting of the Souther Economic Association in San Antonio in November. Brian graduated in Spring 2003 and is doing gradaute work in Statistics at Iowa State University.

Publications, Papers Presented at Academic Meetings, and Lectures

John F. R. Harter and Thomas G. Watkins, "Profit Maximization: A Classroom Experiment,” Kentucky Journal Economics and Business, (2003) 22: 25-35

Harter, Cynthia and John Harter "Teaching with Technology: Does Access to Computer Technology Increases Student Achievement" Eastern Economic Journal

Harter, Cynthia, "Murder Versus Music: Giving Students a Choice in Introductory Economics," Journal for Economic Educators

Harter, Cynthia, "Changing Incentives and Time Allocations for the Academic Economist: Results from 1995 and 2000 National Surveys," Journal of Economic Education

Robert G. Houston and Eugenia Toma, “Home Schooling: An Alternative School Choice,” Southern Economic Journal, (2003) v69, n4 (April 2003): 920-35

Robert G. Houston, Jr. “Finances of Kentucky Municipal Governments,” Kentucky Journal Economics and Business, (2003) 22:1-9

Fred J. Ruppel, “Teaching Principles of Economics Using a Modified Socratic Learning Method,” Kentucky Journal Economics and Business, (2003) 22:36-52

__________, "Measuring the Extent of Coalition Formation in Group Decision Making: A Pilot Study," American Journal of Agricultural Economics

Watkins, Tom “An Examination of Costs at Four-Year Public Colleges and Universities Between 1989 and 1998," Review of Higher Education

Presentations:

2001-2002

Houston, Robert and Eugenia Toma (Univ. of Ky), "Home Schooling: An Alternative School Choice", Southern Economic Journal (forthcoming).

Houston, Robert and Dennis Wilson, "Income, Leisure and Proficiency: An Economic Study of Football Performance", Applied Economic Letters (forthcoming).

Houston, Robert, "Kentucky Municipal Expenditure and Revenue Summary", is forthcoming in the October 2003 edition of the Kentucky Journal of Economics and Business, (forthcoming October 2003).

Houston, Robert and Gail Hoyt (UK), "International Trade and Money: A Simple Classroom Demonstration", Classroom Expernomics, Volume 10 (Fall 2001).

Watkins, T. G., “Costs at Kentucky's Public Masters Universities,” Kentucky Journal of Economics and Business, (2001), 20:54-63.

Harter, John, John A. Wade, and Thomas G. Watkins, “An Examination of Costs at Four Year Public Colleges and Universities between 1989 and 1998," Midwest Economics Association, Chicago, IL, March 2002.

Harter, John, “Dealers Versus Independent Certifiers of Baseball Cards under Asymmetric Information,” Kentucky Economic Association, Lexington, KY, October, 2001.

Leah Flake (EKU student) and J. F. O'Connor, "An Analysis of Property Crimes in Kentucky Counties in 1998," Kentucky Economic Association, Lexington, KY, October, 2001, 14p.

Frank O'Connor, " Economic Development and Inalienable Rights," Standing on Rights: Moral Ideals and Human Realities: Chautauqua Lecture Series 2001-2002, Eastern Kentucky University, Richmond, KY, September 13, 2001.

John A. Wade, " Is God a Free Trader?" Standing on Rights: Moral Ideals and Human Realities: Chautauqua Lecture Series 2001-2002, Eastern Kentucky University, Richmond, KY, 2001.

Frank O'Connor, "Economic Trends and Impacts," Conference on the Management of Local Government, Lake Cumberland State Park, April 3-5, 2002.

John Harter and Tom Watkins are participating in a grant from the U.S. Department of Education to EKU, entitled Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to use Technology (PT-3). The purpose of the grant is to integrate content, pedagogy and technology through the redesign of technology-rich general education and educational foundations courses for future teachers. As part of the grant, they have re-designed ECO 120 for education students pursuing an emphasis in social studies at the elementary and middle school levels or an emphasis in history and social studies at the high school level. The goals were to introduce technology into the course and to incorporate classroom demonstrations. Students are using a variety of technologies in the new course, but they are primarily using such computer software as internet browser, word processing, and spreadsheets. Also, students are participating in eight classroom demonstrations of important economic concepts.

Bob Houston's work on municipal finance's was funded by a grant from the Kentucky League of Cities.

Dr. John A. Wade joined us as Chair of the Department in July 2000. Dr. Wade is a graduate of the College of Washington and Lee. He received his Master's and Ph.D degrees from Purdue University. Dr. Wade's areas of interest include managerial and regional economics. Dr. Wade was on the faculty at Western Carolina University and served as Department Head.

Dr. Ruppel moved to a full-time faculty position in August 2000, after having served as Chair for three years.

Dickey, Steven W., “Shift and Shade the Teacher's Grade,” Missouri Valley Economic Association Conference, Kansas City, MO, February 24-26, 2001.

Dickey, Steven W., “Short Term Interest Rates as Predictors of Unemployment,” Missouri Valley Economic Association Conference, Kansas City, MO, February 24-26, 2001.

Harter, Cynthia L. and Harter, John F. R., “Teaching With Technology: Does Computer Technology Increase Student Achievement?,” Missouri Valley Economic Association Conference, Kansas City, MO, February 24-26, 2001.

Watkins, Tom, Houston, Robert, and Dickey, Steven, “Computer-Assisted Instruction in the First Economic Statistics Course,” Missouri Valley Economic Association Conference, Kansas City, MO, February 24-26, 2001.

Frank O'Connor, “Convergence of Family Incomes in Kentucky Counties,” Kentucky Economic Association, Lexington, KY, October 13, 2000, 24p.

Professor Rudy Wuilleumier retired at the end of academic 1999-00 after 30 years on the faculty of the Department.

Dr. Cynthia Harter is serving as a visiting faculty member for Spring 2000. Dr. Harter formerly taught at Duquesne University. She is a graduate of Tulane University and hold a Ph.D from Purdue University.

For 1999-00, the Department has two new faculty members, John Harter and Robert Houston. John Harter is a graduate of Yale University and has his Ph.D. from Purdue University. Dr. Harter has taught at the University of Mississippi, Georgia State, Emory, and, most recently, Duquesne University. He is teaching managerial economics and international economics. His research interests include Industrial Organization and International Trade .

Robert Houston has just completed his Ph.D. at the University of Kentucky. His thesis deals with the economics of home schooling. In addition to principles, he has taught Public Finance and is going to teach a course on the economics of the environment in the Spring.

Dr. Virginia Wright has announced her retirement effective at the end of the Fall semester. Dr. Wright has been on the faculty at EKU since 1982. She will be missed by both colleagues and students.

Frank O'Connor has returned from a sabbatical leave. He spent the 1998-99 academic year as a visiting scholar at the Economic and Social Research Institute in Dublin. While there, he developed an econometric model for the Irish regions, assembled data for a model of the North of Ireland, was involved in discussions about national investment priorities, and contributed to two chapters in the recently published Medium Term Review of the Irish Economy, 1999-2005.

During Fall 1998 the College of Business was reorganized and the faculty in economics agreed to move to the College of Social and Behavioral Science. Dr. Payne opted to remain in the College of Business and became a faculty member in the newly created Department of Accounting, Finance, and Information Systems. On April 1, 1999 the University was reorganized by reducing the previous nine colleges to five. As a result, the Department of Economics became part of the new College of Arts and Sciences. The College of Business was combined with the College of Applied Arts and Technology to become the College of Business and Technology.

Frank O'Connor, " Income Distribution in Kentucky and North Carolina Counties," Southern Regional Science Association Meeting, Miami Beach, Florida, April 13-16, 2000

Steven Dickey, " Shift and Shade the Teachers Grade: An Analysis of Teaching Evaluations,"
Missouri Valley Economic Association Conference, St Louis, MO, Feb. 24-26, 2000

John Harter, "The Effects of a Patent System on Product Varieties in Hotelling's Competition,"
Missouri Valley Economic Association Conference, St Louis, MO, Feb. 24-26, 2000

Cynthia Harter, "Murder vs. Music as a Learning Tool in Introductory Economics." Missouri Valley Economic Association Conference, St Louis, MO, Feb. 24-26, 2000

Tom Watkins, "An Examination of Real Revenues at Master's Institutions Between 1989-90 and 1994-95," Missouri Valley Economic Association Conference, St Louis, MO, Feb. 24-26, 2000

Robert Houston, "Home Schooling as an Alternative to Public or Private Schooling," Southern Economic
Association meetings, New Orleans, November 21-23, 1999. ( Co-authored with Eugenia Toma, U.K.)

Fred Ruppel, "Transition, Transformation and Turmoil: Global Economic Impacts on U.S. Food Exports,"
Food Distribution research Society Annual Conference, San Antonio, October 17-20, 1999. ( Co-authored
with Chuck Handy, USDA Economic Research Service)

John Harter, “Dealers Versus Independent Certifiers of Durable Collectibles under Asymmetric Information"
International Atlantic Economic Society meetings in Montreal, October 7-10, 1999

Frank O'Connor, "Income Distribution in Kentucky Counties: Evidence from the 1980 and the 1990 Census of
Population," Kentucky Economic Association, Lexington, October 8, 1999.