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Economics
Department Chair: John Olson
Faculty: Ernest Diedrich, Sharon Eicher, Daniel Finn, Joseph Friedrich, Louis
Johnston, Margaret Lewis, Lawrence Litterst, John Olson, Charles Rambeck
Economics is the study of how people interact within their social
and natural environments to provide goods and services to one another according to the
constraints that those environments impose. The department of economics offers students
the opportunity to explore these interactions and to examine important economic issues and
policies from the perspectives of various schools of economic thought.
In accord with the mission of the two colleges, the department's
faculty is committed to the explicit treatment of the values implicit in economic choices
and policies, to the benefits of methodological diversity in economic inquiry, and to the
practice and improvement of contemporary pedagogies to engage students as active learners.
The department's curriculum prepares students to be informed, critical citizens and
engaged, competent professionals.
The economic curriculum is structured within three levels or
tiers. Tier One provides an introduction to the subject of economics by presenting the
student with the fundamental economic principles and ideas and with some issues and
problems examined by economists. Building on the Tier One foundation of ECON 111
(Introduction to Economics), the courses in Tier Two (numbered between 300 and 349)
address in greater depth particular areas of economic theory and application. Tier Three
courses (numbered 350-399) are advanced courses in analysis and applications. Primarily
intended for economics majors and minors, each of the Tier Three courses has a
prerequisite of ECON 334 (Quantitative Methods in Economics) and either ECON 332
(Microeconomic Theory) or ECON 333 (Macroeconomic Theory).
The major prepares students for employment or graduate study.
Recent graduates are pursuing careers in banking, insurance, finance and brokerage,
journalism, sales and marketing, and management. Others are employed as policy analysts
for various agencies and branches of the local, state and federal governments. Economics
majors have gone on to graduate study in business, law, public policy analysis,
agricultural economics, industrial and labor relations, health administration and public
administration. The economics program also offers a minor that can be matched with many
different majors as preparation and support for a broad variety of career opportunities.
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