I am delighted to be sending you our annual MSU Department of Economics newsletter, after taking one year off to launch our new website.
In this newsletter, we are sharing stories from 2023 and 2024 to get you up to speed on our faculty, staff, student and alumni news. We are fortunate to have many world-class faculty, including one who studies gerrymandering and one who likes to play with Lego bricks. We are proud of our Fed Challenge team that took a trip to the Fed, our senior award winners, and our undergraduate researchers. We are also so grateful to our alumni who continue to give back such as our Alumni Advisory Board members, our alumni who meet with students to share about their career paths, and those who give to support our department.
We experienced a significant loss last month, saying goodbye to Professor Ronald C. Fisher. Earlier this year, a former student created the Ronald C. Fisher Award for Undergraduate Research Excellence to honor Professor Fisher’s long-running commitment to encouraging our undergraduates to complete research projects. This award will be given each year to two undergraduate students who produce the best economics research paper. You can help us celebrate Prof. Fisher’s legacy for years to come by contributing to the Ronald C. Fisher Award for Undergraduate Research Excellence.
With this being my last annual newsletter as Department Chair, I cannot help but look back at an incredibly eventful five-year term. It began with the university announcing we were moving online for Fall 2020 on my second day on the job, and in many ways, it has not slowed down much since then. More than anything, I am left with a profound sense of gratitude for my many colleagues who generously shared their time and expertise to tackle all the obstacles and opportunities that arose.
We hope to keep building the connection between our amazing alumni and the department. To that end, we hope you’ll mark your calendars for February 4, 2025, at 1 p.m. ET, for our annual alumni webinar for a chance to learn more about our department research. More information and the link to RSVP will be emailed to you at the beginning of 2025.