Keeping Track
April 2009
Calendar of Events:
April 13-17 |
Graduate Student Appreciation Week |
Going Green Tip for April: Burn Soy Candles - - Choose natural soy candles over petroleum-based paraffin. BECAUSE: Paraffin emits 11 toxins; soy doesn’t.
Congratulations and Names in the News:
Ken Foster, a professor of agricultural economics and Purdue University alumnus, has been named head of Purdue's Department of Agricultural Economics.
Jay Akridge, Purdue's Glenn W. Sample Dean of Agriculture, announced the appointment Monday (March 23). Foster has served as the department's interim head since August 2008. He leads a department that offers seven academic majors, conducts research and serves Indiana residents through Extension-related activities.
There are 45 faculty members, 480 undergraduate students and 120 graduate students in the Department of Agricultural Economics, which is part of Purdue's College of Agriculture.
"Ken brings a wealth of experience to the position and has a deep respect for all missions of our college and the department," Akridge said. "It is an exciting time for the Department of Agricultural Economics, and I am looking forward to working with Ken to help the department continue to build on its reputation for excellence."
Foster specializes in production economics and the marketing of livestock products. His research has included an analysis of investment and supply in the United States beef cattle industry, measuring technical change in agriculture and testing for separability in agricultural production functions. He teaches courses on applied economics.
"The past six months as interim department head have been a wonderful experience and have only increased my faith in the faculty and staff in Agricultural Economics to deliver on the promise of the land-grant mission," Foster said. "I look forward to continuing to help members of our department use their skills and capabilities to better serve the people of the state of Indiana."
A native of Wheatfield, Ind., Foster earned a bachelor's degree in agricultural education from Purdue. Following graduation, Foster spent three years in Central America as a Peace Corps volunteer. He earned master's and doctoral degrees in agricultural economics from the University of Georgia and University of California-Davis, respectively. Foster became a Purdue faculty member in 1990.
Foster has received two separate awards for research and outreach efforts from the Gamma Sigma Delta honor society. He also received the Purdue Agriculture Graduate Educator Award in 2006, the Cooperative Extension Service Association Award and the Dean's Team Award.
We are pleased to announce that two graduate students have received a Norman E. Borlaug International Agricultural Science and Technology Fellowship from the Leadership Enhancement in Agriculture Program (LEAP). For more information, click on this website: http://leap.ucdavis.edu/fellows/2008/fall/#Chibwana
Christopher Chibwana
Malawian, Christopher Chibwana is enrolled in the M.S. program at Purdue University in the department of Agricultural Economics. The main objectives of his research are to relate Malawi’s Starter pack Scheme, the input Subsidy program and government’s use of price controls in Malawi as follows: 1) high agricultural output prices leading farmers to clear more forest land for agricultural production, and 2) low input prices (through subsidies) lead farmers to clear more forest land for agricultural production. He will use farm-level stimulation and regression models to describe farmers’ behavior and response to the agricultural policy incentives. Dr. Gerald E. Shively of Purdue University and Dr. Monica Fisher of the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), are mentoring Mr. Chibwana. He will be conducting his fieldwork in Malawi under the supervision of his CGIAR mentor. His research is also supported by Michael Carter, the Director of the Assets and Market Access (AMA) CRSP.
Miriam Otoo
Ghanaian, Miriam Otoo, is enrolled in the PhD program at Purdue University in the department of Agricultural Economics. The main objective of her research is to examine key constraints in the development of cowpea flour processing businesses in West Africa. She will accomplish this by 1) determining the effects of key business and technical factors of the formation of the cowpea flour businesses, 2) developing a database of different value-added cowpea food products by ethnic background and culture, and 3) the major components of a sustainable business model will be identified and analyzed. Dr. Ousmane Coulibaly of IITA and Dr. Joan Fulton of Purdue University will act as her mentors. She will be conducting her fieldwork in Benin, Ghana, Niger and Nigeria under the supervision of her mentors. Irvin Widders, the Director of the Dry Grain Pulses CRSP, also supports her research.
Larry DeBoer was selected as an honorary member of the freshman honor societies, Alpha Lambda Delta and Phi Eta Sigma, in recognition of his undergraduate teaching in AGEC 217. The induction ceremony was held March 8, 2009.
Tom Hertel has been appointed to the Advisory Board of the World Trade Organization’s program on capacity building for trade policy analysis (WTO Chairs Program).
Thought You Would Like to Know:
Nine students from the Space Health and Population Economics (SHaPE) group will present at the Second Annual Midwest Graduate Student Summit on Regional, Population, and Health Economics – April 10 and 11 at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign. The student organized event brings together young scholars from Purdue University, University of Illinois, University of Missouri, Michigan State University, Ohio State University, and University of Wisconsin. The conference presentations address a variety of topics of growing importance to community planning and regional development, including manufacturing investment, food security, obesity, and immigration. The First Summit was hosted last Spring by the Purdue Agricultural Economics Department.
News from Center for Food and Agricultural Business:
22nd ASTA Management Academy rich with learning and networking
More than 55 seed industry professionals challenged themselves to think strategically and expand their knowledge base at the 22nd ASTA Management Academy, held March 3-6, at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind.
"The ASTA Management Academy gave me an eagle-eye view of all business activities and how they fit into the overall picture of improving a company's profitability," says Jide Lawal, inventory manager at Pfister Hybrid Corn Company in El Paso, Ill.
Participants traveled from 18 states, Mexico and Argentina to explore key topics, such as marketing, business strategy, profitability management and organizational leadership. Purdue agribusiness faculty and industry experts, including ASTA Chairman Kelly Keithly, president and CEO of Keithly-Williams Seeds, used real-world knowledge to cover objectives that included the changing agribusiness environment, implications for seed companies in the future and strategies and tools to help make decisions and keep businesses profitable and growing.
"The sales and marketing session helped me to better understand different segments of the seed industry and allowed me to think of ways to apply the teachings to my everyday business ventures," says Matt Linder, area sales manager of broccoli and cauliflower for Sakata Seed America Inc. in Salinas, Calif. The ASTA Management Academy is a partnership between ASTA and the Purdue University Center for Food and Agricultural Business. More than 1,050 managers, representing about 300 seed firms worldwide, have graduated from the program. Participating organizations have represented all segments of the seed business.
"We look forward to working with the ASTA members during the academy each year," says Betty Jones-Bliss, the academy's program manager. "Each participant brings a unique background and experience to the classroom that creates an environment where our faculty aren't just teaching, they're learning, too."
For more information on the academy or to register for the next academy in March 2010, please visit www.agecon.purdue.edu/cab or contact Jones-Bliss at bettyso@purdue.edu.
Graduate Student Opportunities
Network with potential employers and gain experience in the classroom by volunteering at one of the center’s programs. To learn more about opportunities throughout the year, contact Michelle Query, office manager, at mquery@purdue.edu or 494-4247.
New class coming together for MS-MBA
Applications are now being accepted for the MS-MBA in Food and Agribusiness Management. If you know of anyone who may be interested in this dual-degree, distance-delivered program, contact Luanna DeMay, program manager, at Luanna@purdue.edu or 494-4270. To learn more about the program, visit www.agecon.purdue.edu/agribusiness.
Upcoming 2009 programs
May 28-29 Sales Management and Leadership
June 11-12 Precision Selling
Sept. 15-17 Structuring Decision: Innovating through Turbulence
To learn more or refer a colleague to one of our seminars, visit www.agecon.purdue.edu/cab.
News from Indiana Council for Economic Education (ICEE):
On April 20, the Indiana Council for Economic Education (ICEE) will bring 45 teams of teachers and students, grades 3-8, to the Purdue Campus for a Business Showcase. The Showcase will run from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and is open to all Purdue employees. Each classroom developed a profit-making classroom business and will show displays on how they did it! Please mark your calendars and support these students by stopping by during your lunch break on April 20!
The Indiana Council for Economic Education (ICEE) continues to promote Financial Literacy throughout Indiana, and even the United States. ICEE is offering its new Interest Posters to K-12 teachers in training programs and workshops. The posters tell how interest can work for you with regular saving and investing, and can work against you if you have too much high-interest debt. View posters at http://www.kidseconposters.com/interest.html.
Resources at Purdue :
PURE—Purdue University Research Expertise database—has evolved into INDURE—Indiana Database for University Research Expertise. PURE is outdated and will soon be retired. INDURE is supported through the state and Purdue. Plans are to continue INDURE upgrade and maintenance.
https://www.indure.org/index.cfm?InstitutionFilter=1
Travel, Speeches, Presented Papers:
Dr. Chen gave the paper “Obesity, Fast Food and Grocery Stores: Evidence from Georeferenced Micro Data” at the USDA on January 23. This paper was coauthored with Raymond Florax and Samantha Snyder and was commissioned by the USDA for their conference “Understanding the Economic Concepts and Characteristics of Food Access”.
Dr. Chen gave the paper “Obesity, Fast Food and Grocery Stores: Evidence from Georeferenced Micro Data” in a seminar at the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland Baltimore on January 28.
Dr. Chen also attended the conference “Public Health Effects of Food Deserts” at the Institute of Medicine as an invited guest of the USDA on January 26-27.
Dr. Chen took part in the Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CTSI) inaugural meeting for the Community Health Engagement Program (CHEP) Community Advisory Council Forum on Friday, March 20 in Indianapolis, IN
Dr. Chen will present her paper “Disability Insurance and Spousal Labor Supply” at the University of Michigan, Retirement Research Center Annual Conference on April 4.
Dr. Chen will present a poster “Hospital Market Competition and Uncompensated Care” at the Public Health Systems and Services Research in Keeneland, Kentucky on April 7. This paper was coauthored with Kosuke Tamura, George Avery and Raymond Florax.
Dr. Chen will present her paper (with coauthor Raymond Florax) on “Obesity And Spatial Heterogeneity In Urban Food Markets” in the symposium on: Access To Healthy Food: The Next Frontier For Research On Domestic Food Insecurity, at the American Society For Nutrition’s annual meeting In New Orleans on April 21.
John Connor, Determinants of Cartel Duration, paper presented at the 7th International Industrial Organization Conference, Boston, April 3-5, 2009. [with Rosa Abrantes-Metz]
John Connor Determinants of U.S. Antitrust Fines of Individual Corporate Participants of Global Cartels, paper presented at the 7th International Industrial Organization Conference, Boston, April 3-5, 2009. [with Douglas J. Miller]
John Connor Factors influencing the magnitude of cartel overcharges: an empirical analysis of the US market, Selected paper, the 7th annual International Industrial Organization Conference, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, April 3-5, 2009. [with Yuliya Bolotova and Douglas J. Miller]
John Connor, Invited Participant: Comments on papers presented at the Consumer Antitrust Symposium, Loyola University Law School, Chicago, IL, May 1, 2009.
Raymond Florax presented joint work with Susan E. Chen and Samantha D. Snyder entitled "Obesity in Urban Food Markets: Evidence from Georeferenced Micro Data" at the Eureka seminar of the Department of Spatial Economics at the VU University in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Hertel, Thomas W., “Long Run Projections of Global Agricultural Activity using GTAP”, presented to the UK Science Advisor’s Foresight Project on the Future of the Global Food System, London, UK, March 9, 2009.
Hertel, Thomas W. (with Wolfgang Britz), “Impacts of EU Biofuel Directives on Global Markets and Environmental Quality”, presented to the Conference on Agriculture and Environmental Sustainability, Egmond aan See, The Netherlands, March 11, 2009.
Honors:
Wally Tyner is giving a presentation in the “Great Decisions” series in Indianapolis on April 15. His presentation is entitled, “Energy and the Global Economy.”
Wally Tyner is making a presentation at the Farm Foundation Global Trade and Policy Issues Conference in Washington, D.C. on March 30. The presentation is entitled “2009 Policy Options for the United States and European Union.”.
Publications:
Hertel, T. W., C. E. Ludena and A. Golub (2009). “Economic Growth, Technological Change and Patterns of Food and Agricultural Trade in Asia”, Chapter 5 in: From Growth to Convergence: Asia’s Next Two Decades, edited by Fan Zhai, UK: Palgrave MacMillan.
Nelson B. Villoria China and the Manufacturing Terms-of-Trade of African Exporters
Journal of African Economies 2009; doi: 10.1093/jae/ejp004
Internship Opportunities:
http://www.federalreserve.gov/careers/intern_research.htm
http://www.fsdinternational.org/intlopps/programs/internships1
http://www.fcnl.org/young/intern.htm
http://www.uschamber.com/careers/internships/default
http://www.unausa.org/site/pp.asp?c=fvKRI8MPJpF&b=317257
WorldbankJob Announcements:
Texas A&M – Assistant Lecturer
West Virginia University – Energy Markets and related public policy
Oregon State University: Assist Prof, Rural Econ
West Texas A&M University: Assist Prof of Agricultural Business and Finance
North Dakota State University: Assist Prof
ERS: http://www.ers.usda.gov/AboutERS/Employment/OpportunitiesPage.htm
Job Vacancies at ERS -
Social Science Analyst GS-0101-09/11
GS-0110-09/11 Economist/Ag Economist
The next 3 are different positions -
Public Affairs Specialist GS-1035-12/13
Public Affairs Specialist GS-1035-12/13
Public Affairs Specialist GS-1035-12/13
Career and Job Sites on the Internet:
| Purdue | http://www.purdue.edu/jobs |
| AAEA Job Posting | http://www.aaea.org/classifieds/ |
| Academic Employment Network | http://www.academploy.com/ |
| Academic Position Network | http://www.apnjobs.com/ |
| Agriculture Career Connection | http://www.ag-biz.com/ |
| Community Colleges, misc | http//www.aacc.nche.edu/ |
| Chronicle of Higher Education | http://chronicle.com/jobs/ |
| Congressional Budget Office | http://www.cbo.gov |
| Education Jobs Page | http://www.nationjob.com/education |
| Employment/Resume Posting | http://galaxy.einet.net/GJ/employment.html |
| EPA | http://jobs.quickhire.com/scripts/epa.exe |
| Foreign Ag Service | http://www.fao.org/VA/vac_en.htm |
| Government Career | http://www.usajobs.opm.gov/ |
| National Job Bank | http://www.jobs.joe.org |
| USDA, Ag Research Service | http://www.ars.usda.gov/careers/docs.htm?docid=11797 |
For further information, see the Job Posting File in Room 651
Contact Lou Ann Baugh concerning information to be included in future issues of KT
Keeping Track Monthly Newsletter Archive