University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
Department of Economics
MINUTES
Department Meeting on October 7, 2013
Present: Ahmad (Chair), Bashaw, Das, Ersal, Glosser, Guo, Kashian, Heinrich, Huppert (first
half of the meeting), Marks, McGregory, Schweigert, Tao, Teferra, Welsch (first half of the
meeting), Winden, Schreiner (first half of the meeting – taking photos).
The meeting was called to order by the Chair at 3:55.
1. Minutes from the September 9th meeting were unanimously approved on a motion by
Kashian, seconded by Winden.
2. Announcements
a. Heinrich announced that the instructors of Econ736 and Econ737 should submit a report
if he or she has recently made changes in the course to improve student learning. Ahmad
will send it to Lois Smith by 3:30 on Wednesday.
b. Ahmad announced that this Thursday and Friday the MS Econ program will be up for
approval by the Board of Regents at UW Parkside. By Friday afternoon, we should be
able to know whether the program is approved.
c. Ahmad announced that the department will have two graduate student assistants from the
MS Econ program. We could hire one of them as teaching assistant and the other one as
research assistant. The teaching assistant could help lower level classes (Econ201, 202
and 245) and could offer supplemental teaching sessions on Fridays. There was
discussion, however, on the lack of qualified tutors for intermediate courses that are in
greater need for teaching assistants.
3. Welsh proposed a new course-Econ 445 Advanced Econometrics, for undergraduate students.
It is expected to have 10 enrollments a year. There was discussion about staffing issues for
this course. On a motion by Heinrich, seconded by Kashian, the proposal was unanimously
approved.
4. Heinrich announced that the senior capstone course was approved for one offering in the
spring 2014 as a seminar course. Heinrich asked faculty members of the department to
encourage their students to register. In the long run, this course will become a required
course for the majors.
5. The department voted on the formation of the department Graduate Studies Committee,
which was tabled in the last department meeting. This committee will deal with all graduaterelated issues such as MS Econ program and graduate courses for the MBAs. The MS Econ
program coordinator will be the committee chair. On a motion by Glosser, seconded by Das,
the proposal was unanimously approved.
6. Ahmad shared three curriculum questions/requests by Jan Olson. (1) To change the
prerequisites for Econ 245 to Math 143 or Math 152 or Math 250 or Math 253. On a motion
by Kashian, seconded by Bashaw, the change was unanimously approved. (2) To make Math
231 automatically a substitute for Econ 245. The department needs more time to discuss it.
(3) The Sociology major is changing requirements for their majors and they want to stop
requiring Econ 359 (Comparative Economic Systems), Econ 360 (Growth & Development in
World Economy) and Econ 431 (Economics of Globalization). Ahmad will approve it.
7. Ahmad proposed to form a department committee to study the impact of research. The
committee will look into issues such as how to measure the impact of research. The
committee members will include Kashian, Glosser, Tao, Guo and Ahmad.
8. Sabbatical requests. (1) Glosser requested a whole year sabbatical in 2015. (2) Heinrich
requested a one semester (spring 2015) sabbatical. On a motion by Kashian, seconded by
Bashaw, both requests were unanimously approved.
9. Old business: none
10. New business: none
11. On a motion by Kashian, seconded by Schweigert, the meeting was adjourned at 5:20. The
department personnel committee stayed to view purple books.
Respectfully submitted,
Ran Tao (Nancy)
Secretary pro tem