2006 Spring Banquet

We had our annual banquet on Friday, April 21st at the Gardenview Restaurant, with lots of students and faculty in attendance.   Special thanks to our alumni who made the trip:  Alston Reece (Kohler) and Laurie Turtenwald (PhD program at UW Milwaukee).

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We, of course, had entertaininment with dinner.  This year, McGee (oops, I mean Snoop Cat, a.ka. 2-Bit) performed his Statistical Rap much to the amusement of Reece and Patrick.  Ahmed just looks a little shocked!

  Snoop Cat

Professor Grunloh inagurated the Economics Department's Study Abroad Scholarship this year.  Lori Hintzelman (Economics and Finance major) received a scholarship for studying abroad in Peru this summer with Professor Gunderson.  Ericka Staude (Education major) also received a scholarship for studying in Peru this summer.

  Professor Grunloh explains what traveling and studying abroad has meant to him.


Our Outstanding Reserach Paper of the Year Award went to Sofia Castillo for her study of "Macroeconomic Stability and Dollarization in Latin America."  Sofia's paper used econometics to analyze a panel data set of 18 Latin American countries over the past 40 years, comparing their macroeconomic stability to their level of dollarization.  She found that higher levels of dollarization are associated with a statistically significant decline in inflation rates.  Sofia began this project as a Student-Faculty Collaborative Reserach Grant in 2004 with Professor Johnson.  Sofia presented her research at the

UWO Celebration of Scholarship Day in 2005 and more recently at the state captial in Madison for student research days.  Sofia's paper was published in the Oshkosh Scholar in spring 2006.

   Sofia with her sisters who are visiting from Ecuador and UWO Alumni Barry Knutson.

  Professor Robson presents Ahmed with his award.

Our top honor, Outstanding Graduating Senior went to Anna Kovalenko.  In addition to her outstanding GPA, Anna has been an integral part of the Economics Department for 4 years.  Anna  served as a tutor and as president of the ESA, as well as a member of our first Fed Challenge Team.  Next fall, Anna will begin pursuing a PhD in Finance at UW Madison, supported by a full fellowship.  We will miss her very much! 

  Anna with McGee, Grunloh and Kovzik

Other Notable Achievements...

Sofia Castillo participated in Posters on the Hill this spring, explaining her research on dollarization in Latin America to the legisators in Madison.

Beau Buchmann received a Student-Faculty Collaborative Reserach Grant for the 2006 - 2007 academic year to study the economic impact of nonprofits that pursue commercial revenues with Professor Johnson.  Instead of studying abroad, Beau will spend the summer at the prestegious political economy institute at Georgetown University in Washington DC, where in addition to taking classes, he will be interning at the U.S. Treasury.  

Mark Hamilton and Laurie Turtenwald were both accepted into the PhD program in economics at UW Milwaukee.  Jeff Albright was accepted into and will attend the MA program in Agricultural and Resource Economics at UW Madison, where he will start this fall.  Anna Kovalenko will start in the PhD program in Finance at UW Madison this fall, with a full fellowship.  And Barry Knutson will be attending the MA program in Acturarial Science at the University ot Iowa, supported by a teaching assistantship.

Beau Buchmann, Anna Kovalenko, Chris Ackerman, Michael Kleinhans, and Brad Wanta formed the first UW Oshkosh Fed Challenge Team.  They competed against Federal Reserve Bank 7th District teams in Chicago, October 24, 2006, making an analysis of the U.S. economy and monetary policy recommendations.  They did a great job!

Next year's ESA president will be Beau Buchmann.  Officers include Michael Martis, Josh Held, Brian Drager, Adam Loepfe (fall), Ruth Eberhardt (spring) and Patrick Armstrong.  I am sure next year will be a great one!