Advancing Economics, Transforming Lives

September 2008

From the Department Chair

Thanks to those of you who provided feedback on inaugural issue of Advancing Economics, Transforming Lives.  The alumni updates section is particularly popular, so please log on and tell us what you’ve been doing so we can share it with your classmates.

Undergraduate alumni, please post updates to: MSU Ag Econ - Undergraduate Alumni Address Update
Graduate alumni, please post updates to: MSU Ag Econ - Graduate Alumni Address Update

The Agricultural and Applied Economics Association meetings were held in Orlando this summer.  The department was highly visible at the Awards Program, where faculty and students were recognized with four awards. 

This is always an exciting time of year as a new cohort of bright and energetic students arrives on campus.  Our total graduate enrollment in the MS and PhD programs has been increasing and now tops 80 students.  Likewise, our undergraduate enrollment continues to rise and is now well above 400 students across our Food Industry Management, Agribusiness Management, and Environmental Economics and Policy Majors. 

This growth is only possible because of the financial support our faculty, emeritus faculty, alumni, and friends provide.  For example, several alumni came together recently to establish a memorial endowment for Dale E. Hathaway, an MSU alumnus and former MSU Agricultural Economics Department chair who touched many lives as a faculty member, founding director general of the International Food Policy Research Institute, Executive Director of the National Center for Food and Agricultural Policy, founder of the International Policy Council for Food and Agriculture, and US agricultural trade negotiator.  For details, link to http://aec.msu.edu/giving/memorial.htm

On behalf of the department and our students, I thank you for your continued support.

Dr. Steve Hanson
Department Chair