economics

Distinguished K Professor and Administrator Dies

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Former Kalamazoo College professor of economics and business Sherrill ClelandFormer Kalamazoo College professor of economics and business Sherrill Cleland died of natural causes at the age of 91 on October 26, 2015, in Sarasota, Florida. He was an outstanding teacher and educator, a leader and innovator in higher education, and an accomplished economist.

Professor Cleland was born in 1924 in Galion, Ohio, to Fred and Doris Cleland. He was a decorated World War II veteran with a Bronze Star and Purple Heart. He earned his degrees in economics from Oberlin College (BA) and Princeton College (MA and Ph.D).

He joined the faculty at Kalamazoo College in 1956 as an assistant professor of economics and business and chair of that department. Within three years he had achieved the rank of full professor and served in that role until 1973. He also served as dean of academic affairs (1965-1967) and vice president (1966-67). Among other subjects, he was an expert in Middle East studies and on the integration of courses on consumerism into college curricula.

Professor Cleland was known for his optimism, encouragement, curious mind, and his interest in others and in the world. He was widely admired for his creativity, his commitment to mentoring others, and for promoting equal rights and opportunities for women.

He left Kalamazoo College in 1973 to serve as President of Marietta College (Marietta, Ohio), a position he held until 1989.

Professor Cleland’s acumen as an economist was recognized near and far. In 1962 former Governor John Swainson named Cleland to a five-person advisory committee on the Michigan economy. Internationally, through the Ford Foundation, Professor Cleland worked as an economic advisor to Jordan, and he helped create the country’s first infrastructure development plan in Amman (1963-64). Later he led the creation of the world’s first masters program in Development Economics at the American University of Beirut in Lebanon (1967-69). In 1965 the Great Lakes Colleges Association and the U.s. State Department appointed Professor Cleland to a team of educators who visited various colleges and universities in six African nations to study possibilities of faculty and student exchanges.

His civic engagement while a resident of Kalamazoo was exemplary. He served as chairman of the Kalamazoo Employment Advisory Council and president of the Kalamazoo County Chapter of the United Nations Association and the Kalamazoo Chapter of the American Association of University Professors. He also worked as the Democratic civil rights coordinator for Kalamazoo County.

Professor Cleland remained active in retirement, serving as Chairman of the Student Loan Funding Corporation and on the Board of Directors of KnowledgeWorks, Tuition Exchange, and AMIDEAST.

He is survived by his wife of 27 years, Diana Drake Cleland, and his children Ann Feldmeier, Doug Cleland, Sarah Allen, Scott Cleland, Cynthia Rush, Allison Abizaid, Linda Wiener, Carol Abizaid, Amanda Abizaid Plonsky, and Richard Abizaid. He is also survived by 19 grandchildren and 14 great grandchildren. Professor Cleland was widowed by his first wife of 39 years, Betty Chorpenning Cleland.

Sherill Cleland loved Kalamazoo College, and that love was a legacy he passed to his family. His daughter Ann and son Scott are graduates (1972 and 1982, respectively) as is his granddaughter Amy Houtrow (1996).

Paper’s Tops at Conference

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Amy MacMillan among three receiving awardsAmy MacMillan, the L. Lee Stryker Assistant Professor of Business Management, co-authored a paper titled “Improving the Collaborative Online Student Evaluation Process”—a research effort so fine it received the award for Best Conference Refereed Paper from the Marketing Management Association. The award was presented at a lunch during the MMA conference in San Antonio, Texas. Amy wrote, “I am enjoying representing Kalamazoo College at this conference, attended by hundreds of marketing educators, as well as industry experts and journal editors. From teaching ideas to research strategies technology tools, there are many things I’m excited to bring back to campus.” The financial support to attend the conference is part of the endowed professorship that Amy holds. That aspect of endowed professorships–the encouragement of faculty learning and scholarship–is one reason they are so important and a primary focus of The Campaign for Kalamazoo College. Amy (at left) is pictured with two of the paper’s co-authors (both from Western Michigan University). The fourth co-author teaches in China.

Inaugural Symposium Features Distinguished Alumnus

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The first ever economics and business Senior Individualized Project symposium is bringing back one the department’s own to serve as keynote speaker. Will Dobbie ’04 will address senior econ and business majors during a dinner that will follow the poster presentation to occur in the Hicks Center at 4:30 PM on May 22.

After graduating from K, Dobbie earned his master’s degree in economics from the University of Washington. He received his Ph.D. (economics and public policy) from the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government. Dobbie is an assistant professor of economics and public affairs at the Princeton University Woodrow Wilson School of Public Affairs.

Dobbie’s research interests are primarily in the areas of labor economics and the economics of education. His work has examined the effect of school inputs on student outcomes, the importance of peer effects, the impact of voluntary youth service, and the benefits of the consumer bankruptcy system. Earlier this year he received an award from the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research for writing the best doctoral dissertation in the field of labor-related economics. Ahmed Hussen, the Edward and Virginia Van Dalson Professor of Economics and Business, attended that event. “Will’s lecture was based on his highly acclaimed and controversial work on high performing charter schools in New York City,” says Hussen. “We are delighted to have him back for our first SIP symposium. He has accomplished a great deal in such a short period of time after graduating from K–living proof that we do more in four years so students can do more in a lifetime.”

K Alumnus Wins Dissertation Award

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The W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research annually honors the best doctoral dissertation on employment-related issues. The 2013 Dissertation Award is shared by Gregory Leiserson and Will Dobbie. Dobbie is 2004 graduate of Kalamazoo College (major–economics and business; study abroad–Nairobi, Kenya; athletics–varsity cross country). His dissertation comprises three essays in the area of labor economics. The first essay estimates the impact of Chapter 13 bankruptcy protection on subsequent earnings and mortality. The second explores why market failures may exist in subprime credit markets. The third asks whether high quality primary/secondary schools are enough to significantly reduce social disparities. Dobbie earned his Ph.D. from Harvard University. The W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research is a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan, independent research organization devoted to investigating the causes and effects of unemployment, to identifying feasible methods of insuring against unemployment, and to devising ways and means of alleviating the distress and hardship caused by unemployment.

Alumnus Wins Nobel Prize

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2013 Nobel Prize winner Robert Shiller in 1963Robert Shiller, who became famous for calling the housing and Internet stock bubbles, was one of three Americans to win the 2013 Nobel Prize in economics. Today, he’s a professor at Yale. In 1963, he was a freshman at Kalamazoo College (see photo at left). He stayed at K through fall of his sophomore year before transferring to the University of Michigan. A true liberal arts learner, he took classes during his five K quarters from Don Flesche (political science), Jean Calloway (mathematics) and Conrad Hilberry (English). Five quarters? How does a student accumulate five quarters by the end of fall of sophomore year? That’s a little known fact of the early K-Plan. One could opt to complete one’s undergraduate studies and graduate in three years. Very few students elected that option and it dropped from disuse. “My experience at K was great,” wrote Shiller recently, “and helped set me on my path. I remember that it was my admiration of Bruce Timmons, an economics major at K, that got me into economics. It wasn’t so much my experience taking economics at K, I only got a B+ in intro econ, as I recall, which I thought, momentarily, might mean that I just did not have talent in economics.” Regarding his transfer to University of Michigan: “The reason I did so is a little complicated to explain,” wrote Shiller. “My foreign language was Russian, and so I did not have any place to go for my junior year abroad, and all my classmates would be gone, so I thought I might just switch to U of M. Another reason was that I signed in to the K three-year program, originally to graduate in 1966, but began to think I wanted to experience more years as an undergrad, and I thought joining a big college newspaper staff (the Michigan Daily) would be great fun. More fun than staying behind when my whole class went abroad. So, that is what I did.” At K, Shiller was a member of the Delmega Society, a student organization that attracted mostly math and science majors and serious students. Another K connection was provided by Professor of Economics Hannah McKinney. Shiller and another professor team taught McKinney’s macroeconomics class during her first year of graduate school. Congratulations on the Nobel Prize, Professor Shiller. We’re proud of your K roots.

Alumna Speaks in Mumbai on the Value of the Liberal Arts

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Hema Shroff Patel '86
Hema Shroff Patel ’86

The Great Lakes Colleges Association (GLCA) invited Hema Shroff Patel ’86 to speak at a college fair in Mumbai, India. The Indian students attending the fair were potentially interested in attending colleges in the GLCA, including Kalamazoo College. Patel spoke to them about her liberal arts education experience and how it led her to a life in Mumbai as a businesswoman. She had special praise for Kalamazoo College.

Patel had planned on attending the University of Michigan to earn a degree in economics, but she began her freshman year after the semester’s start at U of M. Her solution was to begin her studies at K, with its later start date due to the quarter system, and then transfer. Patel hadn’t counted on falling in love with K.

“I ended up spending the four best years of my life at K,” Patel told GLCA members and students. At K, she learned how to be flexible and adaptable, she said. Patel studied economics, political science, psychology, anthropology, and sociology. She learned how to view opportunities from many different perspectives, how to find innovative solutions, and how to work with people from varied cultural backgrounds.

Her skills and education came together into a textile and weaving business called Amba that Patel began in Mumbai in 1999. Born in the United States, she moved to India 22 years ago to join her family and establish her business of traditional forms of weaving, block printing, and eco-friendly natural dyeing. Amba is a social entrepreneurship that supports craft heritage in rural India.

“I marvel at how much I have used my liberal arts education in textile revival,” Patel said. “I use my communication skills with people of many different backgrounds. I interact with weavers who speak no English. I apply political science when I apply for grants, and economics and finance in running my business. A liberal arts education opens doors to the global village our world has become.”

K Economics Professor Publishes Third Edition of Textbook

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Professor of Economics Ahmed Hussen has published the third edition of his textbook–Principles of Environmental Economics and Sustainability: An Integrated Economic and Ecological Approach (Routledge, September 20, 2012).

New chapters in the book cover the economics of climate change, the economics of biodiversity and ecosystem services, “green” accounting and alternative economic and social indicators of sustainability, the business case for environmental sustainability, and an appendix that provides an historical account of the development of ecological economics.

K Economics Professor Advocates Long-Range Municipal Planning

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“Buffeted But Not Broken: Kalamazoo’s Five-Year Fiscal Plan” (by Kathy Jessup) describes the origin and development of the city’s long-range planning process, one that contains a further horizon than typical fiscal plans of other cities. Kalamazoo’s decision to engage in longer range planning has been invaluable in response to the economic downtown. Professor of Economics Hannah McKinney first proposed the idea of the Five-Year Fiscal Plan in 2005, when she served as the city’s mayor. McKinney has worked with the National League of Cities and champions the idea of pushing out financial planning horizons in order to better predict and manage both growth and downturns. Jessup’s article appears in the Michigan Municipal League’s magazine, The Review, and a longer version will come out this fall in the International City Managers Association’s publication.

Kalama-Raptors

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It’s no surprise that Associate Professor of Economics Chuck Stull, like most of his faculty colleagues, has a wide-ranging liberal arts-ish curiosity and sense of wonder. His biology and ornithology interests were piqued recently by a successful Red-Tailed Hawk predation of a Quad squirrel, which Stull managed to capture on camera.

In late December, the Kalamazoo Gazette carried an article about a Snowy Owl taking residence at the Battle Creek/Kalamazoo International Airport. Turns out, this year is an irruption of Snowy Owls, one of the largest on record. Often, Snowy Owls will take up residence near airports, which remind them of their tundra hunting grounds. The owl at the Kalamazoo airport died, most likely of starvation. Such an occurrence is sad, but not surprising. Up to 70 percent of the raptor offspring perish during their first winter—many from starvation. The hawk Professor Stull photographed may have better luck if he or she keeps in mind the campus’ squirrel-stocked Quad.

Professor Dorrien Delivers Speech on Economics, Ethics, and Democracy

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Professor Emeritus of Economics Phil Thomas enjoys his retirement in Northport, Michigan. He also keeps Kalamazoo College informed of events that may be of interest to K alumni in northern Michigan. One such event is Northport Trinity Church’s eighth annual Peace Lecture, which this year features former Kalamazoo College Professor of Religion Gary Dorrien (who currently teaches at Union Theological Seminary and Columbia University).

Dorrien will speak on Saturday evening, June 2, at 7 PM, and on Sunday morning, June 3, at 11 AM. The theme of his talks will be “Economic Crisis, Social Ethics, and Economic Democracy.” Dorrien is the author of 14 books and some 250 articles that range across the fields of ethics, social theory, theology, philosophy, politics, and history.