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The annual Economics Symposium hosted by Millersville’s economics department on April 24, was an opportunity for alumni, business leaders, parents, faculty and students to honor achievements of economics majors and to explore and discuss student and faculty research.
Students within the economics department presented on various topics: Michael Crescenzo on preservation of Amish culture; Kaleb Koons on Chesapeake Bay clean-up; Eric Moon on fracking; Brett Sawyer on Wikipedia; Chaney Hand on credit card debt; Ryan McCauley on Lancaster County’s Ready2Work program; David Robinson on New Jersey’s housing market; and Benjamin Shue on rising corn prices.
“It’s important for our department to honor the hard work and academic achievements of our majors,” explained Dr. Mike Gumpper, professor of economics, who was among the faculty members that made presentations during the symposium.
Gumpper presented on “Economics and Financial Literacy Standards Across the States”; Dr. Ron Baker, associate professor of economics, discussed “Using Laboratory Experiments to Investigate Charitable Giving”; Dr. Ken Smith, associate professor and chair of economics, talked about “Student Employment and Academic Performance: The Role of Financial Support”; and Dr. Sandy McPherson, assistant professor of economics, presented on “Evaluating and Forecasting Local Employment Trends.”
During the symposium, Millersville University alumnus Jan Graybill, class of ’80, a certified financial planner, senior partner and vice chairman of Legacy Planning Partners (LPP), an independent financial planning firm that provides financial advice and services to individuals and businesses, was this year’s honorary inductee into the Omicron Delta Epsilon (ODE) international honor society of economics. LPP is an independent financial planning firm that provides financial advice and services to individuals and businesses.
Graybill was not the only inductee into the Millersville University Alpha Sigma Chapter of ODE. Eleven Millersville University students were inducted including Matthew Croyle, Ashley Draper, Kimberly Goody, Joseph Hunter, Kaleb Koons, Courtney Lawson, Eric Moon, Phuoc Phan, Adam Schickling, Benjamin Shue and Dylan Steele.
In addition, three awards were given out. The Fulton Bank Award was presented to Phan, a dual major in business and economics with a cumulative GPA of 3.66, for outstanding academic scholarships in the fields of money, credit and banking. The Economics Endowment Scholarship, presented by the economics department to an economics major who demonstrated all around outstanding academic achievement with preference given to a student with financial need, went to Patrick Hollowell, a junior financial economics major with an overall GPA of 3.51. The Student Research Award in Economics, sponsored by Graybill and LPP, for the best research project as judged by the economics department faculty, went to Koons and Hand.
