| Dear Colleagues,
It is with great pleasure that I announce the promotion of
Dr. Frances Homans from associate professor with tenure to professor with tenure in Applied Economics. Frances has distinguished herself in research, teaching and service.
Dr. Homans’ primary disciplinary research area in environmental and natural resource economics. She has applied her efforts to issues of open access resource use, the economics of land use, and more recently to the economics of invasive species. Her research has resulted in disciplinary research awards, and she has mentored several PhD students in environmental economics.
Dr. Homans also has a developed a distinguished and award winning teaching program. She teaches courses at the undergraduate levels in intermediate microeconomics and environment and natural resource economics. At the graduate level she now teaches dynamic optimization, but has also taught our PhD natural resource economics course. Dr. Homans is also a strong contributor to interdisciplinary teaching collaborating to teach courses in the area of Introduced Species and Genotype which resulted from a multi-disciplinary NSF Grant.
In addition to her outstanding academic contributions, Dr. Homans exhibits the spirit of service and leadership. She has provided excellent leadership to our Applied Economics undergraduate program as Applied Economics Major Coordinator. She has also been a willing and engaged member of numerous departmental, college and university committees and initiatives.
Dr. Homans is an outstanding colleague and friend. Please join me in congratulating Professor Frances Homans on her many accomplishments and her well deserved promotion!
Sincerely,
Brian Buhr
Professor and Head
Applied Economics
Congratulations to Susan Pohlod!
She was awarded the Little Red Oil Can Award for her hard work and impressive contributions to the Applied Economics Department.
The nomination letter written by Professor Donald Liu states:
"I would like to nominate Sue Pohlod for the Little Red Oil Can Award. Through her top-notch support to faculty members in the Department of Applied Economics, Ms. Pohlod has enhanced the educational reputation of the St. Paul Campus, making it a friendlier and more inclusive place for the students. Further, she has positively influenced the campus morale by her friendliness and desire to help, servicing as a resource person for many staff members who need advice in office management skills and web design operations.
I rely heavily on Ms. Pohlod’s extraordinary administrative and technical skills to optimize the efficiency of the day-to-day operation of my classes and to enhance the learning experience of my many undergraduate students (more than 220 per year). When designing and updating my course websites, Ms. Pohlod is always mindful of the needs of students: by making the site logical from the perspective of users, by giving clear instructions, and by providing flexibility (e.g., posting lectures in multiple versions, to provide less costly alternatives for students to download/print the notes).
Being a very sympathetic person, she is keen in helping students with special needs, taking time, for example, to prepare extra-large-font exam copies for a student several years ago who was visually challenged. She interacts very well with students when they come in for assistance; always helpful, considerate, and extremely professional.
She also takes initiative in providing me with updated student information and student performance data throughout the semester (organizing seat charts with photos of more than 220 students at the beginning of the semester), making it possible for me to focus my energies on helping my students. In sum, without Ms. Pohlod, the learning experience of my students would have been unquestionably and severely compromised.
We admire Ms. Pohlod for embracing her life to the fullest extent, both professionally and personally. She has battled Lupus, an incurable autoimmune disorder, for much of her adult life. Treatments have caused her bones to degenerate, forcing her to have multiple surgeries and causing her continuous pain. Instead of retreating, she embraces life, embraces responsibilities and embraces excellence with the upmost professionalism. In so doing, she has made significant contributions to the life on St. Paul Campus."
To read more about the Little Red Oil Can Award visit: http://www.tc.umn.edu/~spboc/LROCA.html
Tom Stinson and Laura Kalambokidis on Minnesota Public Radio
"For most, stimulus means a few extra dollars a month" - interview conducted by Mark Zdechlik, Minnesota Public Radio on May 5, 2009.
"Many of the projects in the massive federal economic stimulus program are still in the planning stages and haven't yet created the jobs sponsors promised. But a major element of the stimulus plan is already funneling extra money to almost every American worker. It's a tax credit that is showing up in people's paychecks."
To read the article and listen to video of interview including comments by Tom Stinson and Laura Kalambokidis visit:
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/05/04/taxcut/
Community Vitality Staff Win Awards - The National Academy of Community Development Extension Professionals (NACDEP) had its nationwide conference in San Diego in April with an award ceremony on April 22, 2009.
The Extension Center for Community Vitality won six regional and national awards for excellence in community development programming and for service to the field.
- Ryan Pesch won an individual award for educational materials for his “Market Area Profile of Brainerd, Minnesota.”
- Claudia Cody won a regional award for Excellence in Community Development Programming for the Business Retention and Expansion program conducted in Big Lake, Minnesota.
- Bruce Schwartau was selected for the Distinguished Service award for Minnesota.
Congratulations to the award winners!
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