Graduate Advisor Dr. Matthew Cushing presented several fellowships and teaching awards at the annual Economics Department Awards Luncheon on May 3, 2011. 

The McConnell Research Fellowship Prize was awarded to doctoral candidate Andrew Perumal.  This honor is given to the economics graduate student who writes and presents the most outstanding research paper in the Economics Seminar Series.  Andrew will graduate with his PhD in August, 2011 and will take a position as Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Massachusetts, Boston in the fall.

Three doctoral students were awarded the McConnell Dissertation Fellowship;Simon Harvey, Kacey Douglas and Katie Steenson. The McConnell Fund makes it possible to give annual fellowships to graduate students in the dissertation stage of their programs.  The fellowship allows students to devote full time to their dissertation research. 

Dr. Cushing remarked, “Professor Emeritus Campbell McConnell generously provides the funds each year for these particular awards. UNL’s distinguished reputation in economics is due in part to Professor Campbell R. McConnell whose notable service to the department between 1953 and 1990 included outstanding instruction and academic publication.” McConnell’s text is the all-time leading college textbook, introducing more than fourteen million students to the field of economics.

Jared McEntaffer and Elizabeth Hefel were awarded the Robert C. and Patricia N. Bingham Economics Fellowship. The fellowship fund is dedicated to providing financial assistance to those planning a teaching career in economics at the post-secondary level. Each fellowship supplements a graduate assistantship for one academic year. 

Outstanding Economics Graduate Student Teachers were also recognized with the Economics Teaching award. Students were judged on their teaching ability and their student evaluations. Honors went to Kacey Douglas, Elizabeth Hefel and Katie Steenson. These continue our tradition and emphasis of teaching excellence in undergraduate instruction.

For additional information contact Barb Keating.