<p>Heard the other day that another Smithie from D's graduating class is also in a Top 10 Econ PhD program (Yale). I remember being impressed by her credits at graduation: Magna Cum Laude, Highest Honors for Departmental Honors (senior thesis), and a separate prize for best thesis in Economics.</p>
<p>To place two in one year to Top 10 programs in one field is pretty darned good.</p>
<p>Go, Smith economists!</p>
<p>Any students with Info about the Economics major?</p>
<p>TD, correct me if I’m wrong, but Randy Bartlett is the hot-ticket econ prof that everybody loves. My daughter, an English major, adored his intro class last year; people are always clamoring to get in. That’s about all I can contribute. Certainly the information TD supplied is testament to the strength and reputation of the department. Is there anything specific you want to know?</p>
<p>Bartlett is one that people love, D did not have him. Mahnaz Mahdavi is another who is much loved and D swears by Roger Kaufman…those two have been her biggest mentors, along with Ruth Haas and Chris Gol</p>
<p>Roisin O’Sullivan is an up-and-coming star in the econ department. She is a native of Ireland and was recently appointed to that’s country’s advisory committee on their economic status and future. She got tenure last year and won one of the Sherrerd teaching awards for classroom excellence.</p>
<p>Andrew Zimbalist is considered one of the nation’s top experts on sports-related economics. I see him quoted in the press on an almost weekly basis.</p>
<p>Overall from what I can gather this is a very strong department.</p>
<p>I’ve never taken advanced econ at Smith (though a friend of mine who is now at an Ivy League law school was an econ major at Smith, we graduated the same year), but one thing I can say about the intro courses is that they really do a good job of teaching the basic concepts in a way that’s interesting and reasonably easy to grasp. It’s great when a Department is so welcoming to non-majors, and I definitely encourage people that are interested to take the basic econ sequence, even if that’s not their major area.</p>
<p>Please don’t forget Susan Sayre! I’m taking her class this year and I just love her teaching stuff so far. So clear and understandable that I barely have to consult the textbook. Sad that’s she’s going to be on maternity leave for a bit next semester but I’m sure she’ll be back soon after that. I had Mahdavi least year as well and she was similarly AWESOME. The two female professor are two major reasons why I am seriously considering majoring in econ (so don’t confuse me with the group of aspiring bankers…!). I plan to take a Kaufman class next semester and I’m pretty psyched about that. The thing about Randy Bartlett is that he absolutely freaking hilarious but still manages to get all the important details and the actual lesson through to a student. It’s very hard line to tread but he managed to balance it all so well. Heard Zimbalist is THE man for game theory. The econ dept is pretty well rounded and there are no obvious bad professors so to speak and I am absolutely loving it! If only I had so much fun taking Calc 2…</p>
<p>Calc 2 will be far in the mists of your rear view mirror when you take Complex Analysis.</p>
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