The Economics and Management department (AND Accounting) engaged 4 new faculty this year, in a variety of disciplines. Great energy and new ideas being thrown around! Marta Podemska-Mikluch has joined us this year as a tenure-track economist. She completed her Ph.D in Economics at George Mason University in 2012. After that, she spent two years as a visiting assistant professor at Beloit College. Marta’s research interests lie at the intersection of public choice, constitutional economics, and economic history. In particular, she is interested in economics of collective decision-making. In her current project she looks at the emergence and collapse of the consensual political system in the Kingdom of Poland. Teaching at a liberal arts college has inspired her to also conduct research on economic pedagogy. She believes that using mass media and pop culture references helps students connect new concepts to what they already know. This promotes engaged learning and helps students internalize the economic way of thinking. Her favorite in this regard is the popular series of books about the underage wizard, Harry Potter. As it turns out, wizards too must deal with scarcity. Marta is a native of Poland.
We are delighted to add long-term practitioners to our faculty! Sonny Jirik has joined us in accounting for this year. He has a wealth of accounting practice to bring to our students, and earned both his undergraduate and MBA degrees from Minnesota State Mankato. Facilitating the Business Law course, Russ Michaletz ’74 brings an alumni perspective to the classroom after his retirement from Deloitte. We are fortunate to welcome both Sonny and Russ to integrate ‘book’ information with real-world application.
Certainly not least– joining us for this year is Mercy Palamuleni, teaching principles of both macro and micro. The only thing I would be afraid of is getting Mercy and Darrin Good in the same room during football season– Kansas State vs Kansas is bound to get heated!