Department News and Notes, Spring 2012
Faculty News
 Assistant Professor Hendrik Wolff presented his paper "Value of Time, Speeding Behavior and Gasoline Prices" for Resources for the Future conferences at North Carolina State University, the University of Wisconsin, the University of Maryland, and Arizona State University recently. Prof. Wolff spent winter quarter 2012 on leave in Washington D.C. at the Resources for the Future headquarters. |
 Professor Chang-Jin Kim had the following papers published or accepted for publication: "Disappearing Dividends: Implications for the Dividend-Price Ratio and Return Predictability,'' forthcoming, Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking (with C. Park); "The Evolution of the Monetary Policy Regimes in the U.S,'' forthcoming, Empirical Economics (with J.-H. Bae and D.-H. Kim); and "Dealing with endogeneity in a time-varying-parameter model: Joint estimation and two-step estimation procedures," Econometric Journal, 2011, Vol. 14, 487-497 (with Y. Kim). |
 Professor Fahad Khalil was invited to give a plenary talk at the Australasian Theory Meetings, at University of New South Wales, Sydney, in February, where he presented his paper, “Contracts Offered by Bureaucrats,” written with Professor Jacques Lawarree and graduate student Doyoung Kim. |
 Professor Emeritus Charles R. Nelson is being honored with a conference this June on the UW campus. Organized by his former students James Morley and Jeremy Piger, with funding support from faculty members Chang-Jin Kim and Eric Zivot, the conference theme will be "Issues on Empirical Time-Series Analysis." |
| Senior Lecturer Haideh Salehi-Esfahani was profiled by the Office of Learning and Scholarly Technologies for her use of the "Tegrity Lecture Capture" e-learning tool for online videos of lectures in Econ 200B and Econ 201A last quarter, after breaking her ankle and needing an alternative format within which to present course material. |
| An Op-Ed column in the Sunday, February 11th edition of the New York Times discussed Associate Professor Elaina's Rose's work on the "Success Penalty." |
| This quarter's Economics Book Club selection is "Profit of Education" by Professor Emeritus Dick Startz. The book uses economic theory and empirical research to approach the policy problem of inadequate public school education in America, and focuses on the need for increased teacher pay. The Book Club meets next on Thursday, June 7, 2012 at 3 p.m. in Savery 410 - all are welcome. |
Student News
Congratulations to graduate students Jaeho Kim, Daeyong Lee and Erica Clower for being awarded 2012-2013 Ensley Fellowships. The Ensley Fellowship in Economic Policy provides financial support to graduate students who have shown outstanding potential in the field of public policy. The fellowship is a gift from Dr. Grover Ensley, who received his Bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Washington in 1937, his M.B.A. in 1938, and his Ph.D. from New York University in 1947. He applied his education to public policy, serving for many years as the Chairman of the Joint Budget Committee of the U.S. Congress. He created the fellowship in 1988 to enable other scholars to study economics at a graduate level.
Graduate student Jennifer Meredith presented her paper "Keeping the Doctor Away: Experimental Evidence on Investment in Preventative Health Products" (joint with Jonathan Robinson, Sarah Walker, and Bruce Wydick) in March at the Pacific Conference for Development Economics at UC Davis.
Congratulations to graduate students Ercument Cahan and Dan Wang for passing their general exams this spring and advancing to doctoral candidacy.
Senior Brent Richards was drafted into Major League Soccer (MLS) by the Portland Timbers. Richards, an All-American NCAA athlete for the Huskies, will graduate with his BA in Economics this June. Brent was chosen as a 2012 PAC-12 Scholar-Athelete of the Year. Reflecting on his experience as an Economics major, Brent recalls fondly his enjoyment of Greg Ellis' and Haideh Salehi-Esfahani's courses, because, he says, "It was apparent in every lecture they gave that they were so excited about economics...having passionate instructors like them just made the classes that much more enjoyable." Brent has earned numerous Dean's List honors while an undergrad at UW, and was selected this year for a "Future" Timeless Award by the College of Arts & Sciences (see below). The Department wishes Brent the best of luck in his new endeavors.
Alumni News
In honor of its sesquicentennial anniversary, the UW College of Arts and Sciences presents the Timeless Awards, a celebration of its most distinguished and accomplished alumni from the past 150 years. In the vein of both reflecting upon the College’s rich history and marking its progress in innovation, the Timeless Awards recognize notable past, present, and future alumni. Join us in celebrating one hundred and fifty exceptional leaders who have made an impact in the arts, humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, athletics and service to the community. The Department is proud of our many distinguished alumni who were recognized this year with Timeless Awards:
“Past” Award Winners
- Charles W. Johnson (BA ‘73) is Associate Chief Justice of Washington State’s Supreme Court
- Bruce Nordstrom (BA ’55), 2010 UW Alumnus Summa Laude Dignatus, President (Retired), Nordstrom Company, and Pacific Northwest civic leader
“Present” Award Winners
- Bryan Cressey (BA ’72), Partner, Cressey & Company
- Glen Milliman (BA ’81), Founder and President, Island Soda Company
- Rodger Schlickeisen (BA ’63), Retired Director, Defenders of Wildlife
- Helen Sommers (BA ’69, MA ’70), Retired, Washington State House of Representatives
- Mark Torrance (BA ’64)
- Gary Waterman (BA ’65), Founder, Waterman Limited
- Lorin Wilson (BA ’40)
“Future” Award Winners
- Brent Richards, BA ‘12, UW Men's Soccer Forward 2012 PAC-12 Scholar-Athelete of the Year. Brent signed this year to play MLS soccer with the Portland Timberwolves.
In Memoriam: Richard Beyer, 86, the UW economics grad student who became a master sculptor instead and who created "Waiting for the Interurban," in Seattle's Fremont neighborhood, died April 2012 in New York City after a stroke in March.
The Executive Board of the Department of Economics Visiting Committee is pleased to announce the appointment of J. David (Dave) Griswold (BA '79) to a second two-year term as Visiting Committee Chair. In this capacity, Dave leads a group of volunteer business and community leaders
who feel that educating our young people about economics is an essential part of creating a prosperous future for the Pacific Northwest.
Among the goals of the committee are that its members will provide a stable and significant source of funding to the Department, actively advise the Department chair and other faculty on any matters in which they are seeking outside input, advocate on behalf of the Department to the business community and in civic arenas, and share their experience and expertise with students as mentors, instructors, and internship advisers.
The Department is grateful to Economics alumnus and Visiting Committee member Glen Milliman (BA '81) and his wife Alison (BA Art History '84) for their recent pledge of $1 million to fund the Milliman Endowed Chair in Economics. Glen and Alison have been longtime supporters of Economics and other programs at UW, having already established, in 1995, the Milliman Endowed Fund in Economics. This endowment supports the biennial Milliman Lecture in Economics, as well as providing instructional support to students and faculty. The next Milliman endowed lecture will be held in spring 2013. On behalf of current and future students of Economics, the Department thanks Glen and Alison for their generous support and dedication to education and the idea of lifelong learning and exploration.
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