Fall 2020 Newsletter
An Update to Alumni & Friends of WVU's Economics Ph.D. Program
Dear WVU Economics PhD Alumni & Friends,
Welcome to the first edition of our newsletter. My hope is this letter will help you stay informed about the department and one another.
Let me begin by saying that I hope you and your loved ones are doing as well as can be expected in the face of Covid-19. With the exception of doctoral courses, we have pivoted to online instruction this fall, which has had its challenges. Since March, I have seen our faculty and graduate students work night and day to provide the best experience for our undergraduate, masters, and PhD students. I could not be prouder of our department for not only surviving – but thriving – in this difficult environment.
Speaking of thriving, I am happy to report the following PhD placements in 2020:
Daniel Bonneau, George Mason Law School (Arlington, VA) - Levy Fellow
Perry Ferrell, UW-LaCrosse (LaCrosse, WI) - Postdoctoral Researcher
Candon Johnson, Food and Drug Administration (Silver Spring, MD) - Economist
Justin Parker, US Energy Information Administration (Washington, DC) - Industry Economist
Zachary Rodriguez, Syracuse University (Syracuse, NY) - Postdoctoral Researcher
Shishir Shakya, Shippensburg University (Shippensburg, PA) - Assistant Professor
Yang Zhou, University of North Texas (Denton, TX) - Assistant Professor
This fall, we have four PhD Candidates on the job market:
Benjamin Blemings (Public, Health, Urban/Regional). Ben’s job market paper is “No Birthdate Retakes: Evidence on College Merit-Based Aid and Academic Performance from Multiple Discontinuities.” Ben is winner of the Jon Vilasuso Advanced Doctoral Student Award.
Margaret Bock (Urban/Regional & Public). Margaret’s job market paper is “Unintended Consequences of the Appalachian Development Highway System on Mortality.” She is the recipient of the Benjamin H. Stevens Graduate Fellowship in Regional Science from the North American Regional Science Council. Margaret is also winner of the Department’s Doctoral Student Research Award.
Eduardo Minuci (Monetary, Banking, Macroeconomics). Eduardo’s job market paper is “A State-Level Analysis of the Cost Efficiency of US Community Banks.” Eddy is winner of the Department’s Best Doctoral Student Award.
Tuyen Pham (Health & Public). Tuyen’s job market paper is “The Effect of Retirement on Weight Change among US Adults.” Tuyen is winner of the Jon Vilasuso Advanced Doctoral Student Award.
If you are hiring this year, I urge you to check out their job market materials.
In other department news, we have three new faculty members to report!
Cathleen “Cate” Johnson joined us in January from the University of Arizona as a Teaching Assistant Professor and Assistant Department Chair. An experimental economist, Cate has multiple publications in journals like Journal of Risk and Uncertainty and Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization and over 1500 citations. Cate is overseeing ECON 200 (Survey of Economics) and ECON 201 (Principles of Microeconomics) as well as teaching in our new online MS in Economics program.
Kole Reddig joined us as an Assistant Professor of Economics over the summer. He completed his PhD from the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University. Kole’s research interests are health economics, industrial organization, and applied microeconomics. In addition to teaching the second microeconomics course in the first-year PhD sequence, Kole will be teaching our undergraduate IO course, ECON 445: Government and Business.
Nathaniel Burke will join us in May of 2021 as an Assistant Professor of Economics. Currently a PhD Candidate in Economics at the University of Arkansas, Nathaniel is an experimental and behavioral economist who studies the economics of education and group identity. Nathaniel will teach Education and Labor economics in our MS in Economics program.
In alumni news, I am happy to report the recent promotions of our PhD Alumni:
Jorida Papakroni (PhD, 2013) was promoted to Associate Professor of Finance with tenure at Franklin & Marshall College.
Tuan Le (PhD, 2012) was promoted to Associate Professor of Economics with tenure at West Virginia Wesleyan College.
Serkan Karadas (PhD, 2014) was promoted to Associate Professor of Economics with tenure at Sewanee: The University of the South.
Julie Lohi (PhD, 2012) was promoted at the World Bank Group. She is now a Regional Economist covering 24 countries in West and Central Africa and her affiliation is with the International Finance Corporation.
I wish you the best with the rest of 2020 and into the New Year. Thank you for all of your support of the department over the years. Your gifts of time and treasure have been crucial to our program weathering the current economic environment. In particular, I would like to thank you for recommending your students to our new online MS in Economics and our PhD Program.
Please do not hesitate to reach out to me for assistance or with good news to report in the next newsletter. Once a Mountaineer, always a Mountaineer.
Let’s Go!
Joshua Hall
Department Chair, Economics
John Chambers College of Business and Economics