The Auburn University Department of Economics has been highly recognized in the recent Southern Economic Journal.
The journal examined research productivity and impact on economic education from 1991 to 2005.
Steven Caudill, head of the economics department, was cited heavily along with professor Daniel Gropper.
“The Journal of Economics studies articles written on the education of economics,” Caudill said. “It studies better approaches to teaching students.”
Economics departments are ranked on total citations of published works as well as individual professors’ citations.
Auburn was ranked 14th as an institution.
It was ranked just ahead of economic institutions as Princeton the University of Toronto.
The top three ranking universities for research in economics were Vanderbilt, Indiana and Wisconsin.
“The rankings are based from articles about teaching,” Caudill said. “How frequently people read and cite your papers in their teaching is taken into account.”
The study also reported the highest ranked 50 individual faculty members in the world.
Caudill and Gropper of Auburn University were tied for 12th place with Peter Kennedy of Simon Fraser University and Charles Holt of the University of Virginia.
Caudill and Gropper’s works account for 77 percent of the 14 Auburn authors publishing research in the economics area.
“Professor Gropper and I came out highly cited,” Caudill said. “The economics department as a whole was highly cited.”
Economics students agree with the findings in the recent report.
“The economics department has been an integral role in my Auburn experience,” said Chris Yearout, a senior in economics. “Professors Ault, Beil and Beard have all played an important role in my experience, not only in the economics department, but in the College of Business.”
The economics department was recently added to the College of Business.
The economics curriculum offered at Auburn is remarkable, according to Yearout.
“It has been a great experience,” said Blair Druhan, a junior in economics. “The professors are extremely intelligent not only in economics, but with anything.”
The critical thinking involved with economics seems to be a draw for pre-law majors, according to Yearout.
“I chose economics my freshman year,” Yearout said. “I thought it was like finance, but I got into a challenging major. I hope to go to law school, but I couldn’t imagine choosing any other major.”
The professors helped Druhan realize she wanted to be a professor and not go to law school.
“Caudill came to speak in my 1020 class,” Druhan said. “He said that economics was good for pre-law majors because of the thought process involved.”
The educational experience and knowledge gained from professors has motivated Druhan to pursue economics further.
“I learned how interesting it was,” Druhan said. “Economics can be applied to other aspects of our lives. I want to be a professor in the long run because I see what my professors have learned from studying for so many years.”
The economics department has achieved high standing in the economics world.
This level of excellence is reflected in the satisfaction of the students as well as their professors.
“We as individuals and the department were ranked highly in the world of economics,” Caudill said.
