Department of Applied Economics
218c Classroom-Office Building
1994 Buford Avenue
St. Paul, MN 55108-6040

(612) 625-6765 (Phone)
(612) 625-3186 -or- (612) 625-6245 (Fax)
E-mail: dliu@umn.edu

Donald Liu is a professor and a Morse-Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of Minnesota in the Department of Applied Economics. He received his B.S. degree in animal science from University of Chinese Culture, Taipei in 1975, his M.S. degree in agricultural economics from California State University, Fresno in 1980, and his Ph.D. in agricultural economics from University of Minnesota in 1985. Before returning to Minnesota as a faculty member in 1995, he worked at Cornell University between 1985 and 1990 and at the Iowa State University between 1990 and 1995.

Professor Liu was inducted into the Academy of Distinguished Teachers in 2006, upon receipt of the University of Minnesota Award for Outstanding Contributions to Undergraduate Education. He also received in 2006 the American Agricultural Economics Association Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching Award (for More Than Ten Years' Experience). In 2007 he is a regional winner of the United States Department of Agriculture National Awards Program for Excellence in College and University Teaching in the Food and Agricultural Sciences. Because of his innovative use of technology in classroom, he was selected in 2005 as a Fellow of the Digital Media Center at the University of Minnesota.

Donald Liu teaches Principles of Microeconomics, which has about 250 students. He also teaches a Ph.D. level marketing economics class which typically has only a handful of very dedicated doctoral students. Liu enjoys having a good balance between large class undergraduate teaching and specialized graduate teaching, as the former allows him to touch many souls at the same time while the latter compels him to search constantly into his own soul, striving to be on the very frontier of his profession.

Within the general subject of agricultural marketing, Liu's research focuses on three related areas: i) economic impact analyses of commodity advertising and promotion programs of the U.S. dairy and livestock industries, ii) economic impact analyses of government price and market interventions in the U.S. dairy and livestock industries, and iii) economic impact analyses of market structural changes and technical changes in the U.S. dairy and livestock industries. According to Liu, it is the joy of learning and the wonder of discovery that make research such an exciting and interesting endeavor.

Donald Liu has been active in providing institutional services to the university community and to the agricultural economics profession. Among others, he serves as a member of the Advisory and Steering Committee of the National Institute for Commodity Promotion Research and Evaluation (1998 ~ present), a member of the Steering Committee of the Center for International Food and Agricultural Policy (2000 ~ 2007), a member of the University of Minnesota Senate (2003 ~ 2005), the program coordinator of the Agricultural and Food Business Management Program in the Department of Applied Economics (2000 ~ 2003), the program coordinator of College in the Schools - Economics (2007 ~ present), a member of the Editorial Board of Agribusiness: An International Journal (1998 ~ 2007), a member of the Market and Trade Panel of the USDA National Research Initiative (1996, 2003, 2005), and a Resource Teacher for the Center for Teaching and Learning at the University of Minnesota (2004 ~ 2007).

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