Alumni News
Recent Alumni Newsletters
Seelig Gift Supports Economics Research at Clark
Steven Seelig (BA '66; PhD '71) recently contributed $25,000 to support research by faculty and graduate students in the Economics Department. In his own words: "I have come to realize that I owe a debt of gratitude to the economics faculty at Clark that piqued my interest in economics, exposed me to the pleasures of research through the honors program, and while getting my Ph.D. taught me to think "outside the box" and to use economics to look at public policy issues."
Based on this gift, the University's Board of Trustees has approved the establishment of the Steven Seelig Economics Research Fund. The income from this fund will be used for purchasing software or hardware, data acquisition, travel and conference fees, publication fees, and other direct research expenses. The faculty is grateful for this expression of support from an alumnus of the program, and hope to use these funds to help offer the kind of education that will continue to inspire such loyalty in future students. Efforts are anticipated to encourage additional support from other Economics alumni.
Alumni Event in Boston
After touring the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, members of the Economics Society visited Public Consulting Group for lunch and discussion with alumni about economics, careers and life after Clark. Public Consulting Group CEO, Bill Masakowski ('76), led the discussion with input from Sean Dunbar ('01), Bob Andrezyk ('01) and Mollie Grotpeter ('04).
Alumni Survey
We've developed an Alumni Survey to get feedback from B.A.s and Ph.D.s about the economics courses and degree programs at Clark, and how they helped prepare you for "life after Clark". This is part of the Department's commitment to developing outcome-oriented measures for the program - as well as another way for us to keep in touch with you.
The survey can be accessed at http://survey.clarku.edu/EconSurv/takeSurvey.asp?surveyID+126&invid=x and click on surveys on the left, then alumni06 survey.
The alumni Survey includes questions about how well Clark courses provided you with specific skills (analytical tools, oral and written communication, applying economic theory). The Survey also asks for job contact information. If you prefer to answer the survey anonymously, that is fine. We are truly interested in your feedback. Please take a few minutes sometime and fill out the survey; the results will be summarized in a future newsletter.
Attiat F. Ott Seminar Room Dedication
On October 21, 2005 the departmental seminar room was dedicated in honor of Attiat Ott, who retired from teaching in 2005 after 35 years at Clark. Many of her former students returned for the occasion.
The Attiat F. Ott Fund for Economics funded the renovation of the department's seminar room and continues to fund student research. Total pledges of $45,000 have been received from Clark economics alumni.
Dr. Ott's latest initiative is in the Institute for Economic Policy Studies, which promotes economic literacy in Africa while seeking to develop new solutions to the economic problems faced there. The Institute hosted a conference in July 2006, "The African Outreach Program: Democracy, Liberty, and Development", with participants from Africa and the U.S. including several of Dr. Ott's former students.
Clark Econ Alumni News
Vjacheslav Dombrovsky, Ph.D. '04, has been awarded a Fulbright grant to do research at the Buchanan Center of Public Choice at George Mason University. He will be coming to the United States in August 2007.
Eastern Research Group of Lexington, MA employs three Clark Econ alumni: Lou Nadeau ('98), Aylin Sertkaya ('98), and Rob Carney ('02). Lou is involved in performing statistical program evaluations of federal government agencies such as EPA, OSHA, and FDA. Aylin is assessing the economics of food safety and nutrition issues for the FDA. Rob works on a variety of economics projects for OSHA and FDA. Laurie Hopkins ('97) and Reetika Motwane ('00) have also worked at ERG.
Andrea (Poppiti) McHugh ('99) is Contracts Specialist for ARD, Inc, an international development consulting firm that performs work mostly for USAID, administering government contracts, preparing and monitoring budgets.
Mollie Grotpeter ('04) is Project Manager for Public Partnerships, LLC, doing program and system design and regulatory compliance for new projects. PPL provides Fiscal Intermediary services for public sector clients. Bill Mosakowski ('76), CEO of Public Consulting Group, Inc. (PPL's parent company), is a Clark Alumnus and Trustee.
The Economics Department at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth includes 3 Clark alumni: Ronald Shadbegian ('91), Robert Jones ('01), and Constantine Alexandrakis ('03). Naa Akofio-Sowah , Maggie Cole-Beebe and Michael McKay are UMass-Dartmouth graduates currently in our PhD program.
Recent Graduates
PhD Degrees 2008
Maggie Cole-Beebe
"What Do Nurses' Unions Do? Implications for RN Wages, the Patient
Care Environment,, and Patient Outcomes"
(Gray)
Chyanda Querido
"A Game Theoretic
Approach of Mass Killing and War"
(Bae)
PhD Degrees 2007
Suchandra Basu
Transboundary Pollution Spill-ins and Local Regulatory Response" (Gray)
John Moore
Inter-district Choice in the State of Massachusetts (Gray)
Undergraduate Honors 2008
Ashley Harris
The Impact of Brownfields on Housing Values in Worcester
(Geoghegan)
George Keppler
The Hedge Fund Industry: Movement of Assets and Funds (Gray)
Michael Melville
Falling Popularity: A Study of TV Ratings and Professional Sports
(Bae)
Naomi Parker
A Roll Call Analysis of Agricultural Protection (Brown)
Nagraj Rao
Suburbanization and Residual Water Demand: A Case Study of
Ipswich, MA (Geoghegan)
Where are they going?
Suchandra is teaching at Rhode Island College and John continues to teach as an adjunct professor at several Worcester-area colleges.
Huyen finished her MBA at Clark University and will start working at EMC Corporation as a business analyst. Jameela is working at the Standard Chartered Bank in Sri Lanka.
Chyanda is working as an analyst at Bank of America and Maggie is teaching at Emmanuel College in Boston.
Ashley is working at The Hanover Insurance Group as a financial analysts intern for the Human Resources department. She is pursuing the 5 year MBA program at Clark, concentrating in Accounting or Finance. Michael will be attending Boston College Law School. Naomi is working at the Massachusetts State House as an Aide to State Representative Mark Falzone, who represents parts of Saugus, Lynn, Lynnfield, and Wakefield. Nagraj will begin graduate studies in Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of Maryland, College Park in the fall.
Current Student News
Masahiro Shoji will be presenting his paper "Evaluation of Flexible Repayment System in Microfinance: A Case Study from a Natural Disaster in Bangladesh" at the Eastern Economic Association meetings on February 24, 2007. Masahiro is from the Graduate School of Economics, University of Tokyo and is currently a visiting student in the economics department at Clark while working as a research assistant for Dr. John Brown.
Chyanda Querido will present a paper from her thesis, "A Game Theoretic Approach of War," at the first world meeting of the Public Choice Societies in Amsterdam, March 29-April 1, 2007. Chyanda is receiving travel support from the Society and from the Department's Harry Sheftel Research Fund.