I'm very happy to report that we have had a wonderfully normal year. While allowances must still be made for the effects of COVID on student and faculty absences, just about everything is back to normal. And our students, staff, and faculty deserve no less.
We filled our third Frederick Addy Distinguished Chair in Economics this last year, hiring the prominent development economist Enrique Seira. With great sadness, I will also note that Mr. Addy passed away this last year. Mr. Addy truly had a transformative effect on our department. Not only was he incredibly generous with his financial gifts, leaving us three endowed chairs, one endowed professorship, and one endowed faculty teaching award, but he focused his generosity on a grand vision of what a great university should be: A place where excellence in research and undergraduate teaching should go hand in hand. Mr. Addy will be missed, but we will strive to meet the grand vision he had for higher education.
We are also very pleased that we were able to activate the Walter Adams endowed faculty position this year, a gift from our generous alumni and faculty. This endowed position honors Walter Adams, a former faculty member and President of MSU who had an enormous effect on the lives of many students and faculty members. The faculty unanimously voted to offer this endowed position to Prof. Jeff Wooldridge, a current faculty member who similarly has made numerous important contributions to the department.
This academic year will be transformative for our department in another dimension: Seven faculty members, representing almost 300 years of service to MSU, are in their final year. At years end, we will be saying goodbye to Professors Christine Amsler, Jeff Biddle, John Goddeeris, Larry Martin, Paul Menchik, Jack Meyer, and Peter Schmidt. I am grateful to each of these individuals for building a department that I have so enjoyed being a part of. And as just one example of their legacy of excellence, Prof. Peter Schmidt was named the recipient of the College's inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award.
By numerous metrics, we remain strong: We had numerous top publications over the last couple of years, our undergraduate placement rate and starting salaries are among the highest in the College, we had another stellar year of placement our graduate students, and there is ample evidence we are tangibly improving our world (just as one example, Eguia's work on gerrymandering was featured repeatedly this last year in the news, political arenas, and even the courts).
The Department of Economics is fortunate to have a large and generous alumni base that continues to provide critical financial support for the department and to interact with our undergraduate and graduate students. If you would like to find a way to give back that fits you, please contact me. Your support makes an enormous difference in the lives of current and future Spartan economists.
Thank you and Go Green!
Steven J. Haider
Professor and Department Chair