RICE ECON
Spring 2019
News and Views from the Economics Department at Rice
Spring Break!
We hope that you are planning a great
spring break and will return refreshed
and eager to finish out the rest of the
semester. And, to anticipate things a bit,
we congratulate our some one hundred
ECON and MTEC graduating seniors who
will be walking in May and beginning their
adventure beyond the hedges – best of luck
to you all!
In this issue of our newsletter, we continue
featuring our undergraduate offerings, as
we focus on one of the most essential of
our core courses, ECON 200, Intermediate
Microeconomics, taught by Professor
James Brown. Jim is a renowned instructor
who recently received the most prestigious
teaching award presented by Rice, the
George R. Brown Certificate of Highest
Merit, culminating a career in which he
won two Brown Prizes for Excellence
in Teaching, four Brown Awards for
Superior Teaching, the Sarah Burnett
Teaching Prize, and was named a Piper
Professor. Our faculty spotlight shines on
Professor Mallesh Pai, who received the
Ralph O’Connor Award for Distinction in
Teaching and Research in Economics in
2018. We are also delighted to announce
the next in our series of RISE (Rice
Initiative for the Study of Economics)
Lectures by Nobel laureates, as we bring
Professor Christopher A. Sims of Princeton
University, recipient of the 2011 Nobel
Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, to
Rice on March 21. And, if you haven’t done
so already, please stop by the Economics
Department offices and meet Joan
Guthrie, our (relatively) new department
undergraduate program coordinator, who
can help out with problems large and small.
Meet Joan Guthrie, our new Undergraduate
Program Coordinator
Joan Guthrie is our new Undergraduate Program
Coordinator. Her office is Baker Hall 277, and you can
reach her by email at [email protected] or by phone at
713-348-4381. Please feel free to drop by her office
anytime for assistance with or questions regarding
our ECON and MTEC majors. If you are interested in
curricular advising, such as creating a degree plan or
course selection, please visit one of our major advisors
during their office hours, which are posted on the
Economics Website under Advising/Contact and are
always displayed under the “Advising Corner” feature of
this newsletter.
Born and raised in Houston, Texas, Joan first began
her career at Rice in the Information Technology department in 1990. In 1992, she
transferred to the office of the Vice President of Information Technology and then moved
on to the Center for Technology in Teaching and Learning in 2000. She left Rice in
2016, taking a short retirement, but returned in the fall of 2018 to begin her current
role in the Economics Department. Joan has enjoyed her long career at Rice, and she
especially likes attending Rice baseball and football games.
If you haven’t checked out our website
recently, you might take a look at our listing
of various student opportunities, as well
as some pointers on conducting research
in economics, and on getting your work
published in undergraduate economics
journals.
Hoping the rest of your spring semester
goes well,
George Zodrow
Director of Undergraduate Studies
Advising Corner
Spring 2019
Advising Office Hours
Monday
1:00–3:00 p.m.
Peter Hartley, BKH 262
Tuesday
1:15–2:15 p.m.
Maria Bejan, BKH 251
Wednesday
4:00–5:00 p.m.
James Brown, BKH 250
Thursday
2:30–3:30 p.m.
Mahmoud El-Gamal, BKH 240
Friday
10:30–11:30 a.m.
George Zodrow, BKH 260
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