Active and engaged learning experiences take place inside and outside the classroom throughout your four-year experience. Contact your advisor for more information on these and other opportunities.
Prepare as a Professional
- Each month the Economics Department sponsors a Third Thursday Discussion with a guest speaker on their area of expertise. Recent speakers include Paul Picardo, Guy Carpenter Insurance Brokers; Tacoma City Councilman Ryan Mello; and Jim Cahill, a budget assistant to Washington Governor Inslee.
- Internships: Recent students have interned with a data analytics firm, the FDIC, and a London-based economic consultant
- Professor Lea Fortmann took students to the Canussee conference on ecological economics in Vancouver, B.C. Another local opportunity for student presenters or attendees is at the Western Economics Association in Portland, OR in July 2016.
- Earth Economics is a non-profit located in Tacoma, Washington, dedicated to researching and applying the economic solutions of tomorrow, today. (www.eartheconomics.org) Current and former students are working on research projects.
Experience the World
- Recently economics students have studied in London, Denmark, Germany, South Africa, Vietnam, Argentina, and China through a variety of study abroad programs. Contact the International Programs office for more information and more opportunities. Over the last year students have taken part in the following programs:
- DIS: Examine the impact of globalization on European integration, comparative advantage, and international competitiveness by using the theories of international trade, capital markets, and economic development.
- SIT: International Honors Program: Health, Culture, and Community
- IES: European Union Program allows you to live and learn about European politics, economics, business, and international relations.
- Alliance for Global Education: Designed for students interested in international business and economics, the International Business program offers undergraduates the unparalleled opportunity to study Chinese language, international business, and economic development in Asia’s financial center. Students participate in carefully designed activities and experiential study trips that provide a first-hand encounter with China’s rapidly changing business environment.
Engage Your Community
- Sound Economics is an economics blog where students write original articles on economic current events, analyzing economic policy, and introducing readers to economic concepts. Along with cultivating writing skills and developing a mastery of economic ideas, the student writers are participating in the broader economic discourse taking place within the economics community.
- Professor Andrew Monaco and several students attended a public debate at Pacific Lutheran University about the potential benefits and pitfalls of Proposition 1, an initiative being posed to Tacoma voters that, if approved, would raise the city’s minimum wage to $15.
Conduct Research
- The Kriens Fund Summer Research grant supports basic research that enhances understanding of a well-defined economics research question. While not a requirement for funding, award allocation includes a preference for funding projects seeking solutions and outcomes that promote land management and conservation. Recent projects include:
- Emily Masangcay '14: The Effect of the National School Lunch Program on Education Attainment
- Peter Bergene '15: The Effect of Historic Designation on the Value of Single-Family Homes in Tacoma
- Ryan Walch '13: Volatility, Financial Markets and The Minority Game
- Joe Cerne '13: Developing a Working Natural Resource Marketplace in Whatcom County
- All Economics majors must take Economics 411: Senior Thesis Seminar. Every February students participate in a Poster Session which showcases their research projects. Selected theses are available online.
