Students
Undergraduates
- Introduction
- Special Degree Requirements
- Suggested Course of Study
- Requirements for a Minor
- Teacher Preparation
- Economics Major Check List
- Scholarships
Graduates
Students
A baccalaureate degree in Economics is not a professional degree; it is a liberal arts degree. Our undergraduate program encourages students to take courses across a broad range of fields. Our undergraduates are not hired by businesses, government agencies, or NGOs to perform economic analysis independently. It is the broader liberal arts aspect of the degree that is most important: the ability to engage in higher level, critical thinking, to engage in cooperative problem solving, to be able to speak and write in an articulate and reasoned manner, to be broadly informed, and to know how to learn what they need to know for the tasks assigned.
Majors should have the ability to apply appropriate economic models to real world situations and to evaluate critically basic economic analyses. They should be able to formulate a basic research agenda and know how to access the professional economics literature and commonly used economic databases. Economics majors must also be able to express themselves in a clear and articulate way both verbally and in writing. In addition, they need to be able to work cooperatively with other professionals in problem solving.
Our graduate degree is a professional degree. The graduates from our Master of Arts program either go on to Ph.D. programs or readily obtain employment as economists in the private, public, or NGO sector. Our graduate program has successfully produced students with the theoretical and empirical skills necessary to contribute to the development of both business strategies and public policy.
The Economics department has a long history of cooperating with Environmental Studies, the School of Forestry and Conservation, and other units of the College of Arts and Sciences. Our faculty members have taught in Environmental Studies and the School of Forestry’s Wilderness and Civilization program. We have also team taught courses in Modern & Classical Languages and Literatures, Liberal Studies, Philosophy, and Law. Our courses have regularly been cross-listed with Forestry, Management, the Honors College, and Environmental Studies. The Economics Department has played a leadership role in the creation of the cross-disciplinary Asian Studies and Development Studies programs.