Management and Economics Department

The department of management and economics combines two disciplines. Economics concentrates on the principles governing the market mechanism and how it guides decision making in the production and distribution of goods and services. Management involves the planning, organizing, leading, and controlling of resources to achieve an organization’s goals in an effective and efficient manner. It is an appropriate area of study for students interested in nonprofit organizations, as well as business firms. Management emphasizes the application of economic principles, along with those from other fields, such as sociology, political science, psychology, and mathematics, to business, government, and other organizations. Although the orientation of the two disciplines differs somewhat, they share a substantial core of common subject matter and analytical methodology.

Departmental Honors

Students who have a GPA of at least 3.25 in their major courses are urged to complete a substantial research project to qualify for honors in management and economics at graduation.

Faculty

Hossein Akhavi-Pour, professor. BA 1969, Faculty of Law, Tehran University; MA 1975, PhD 1980, Kansas State University. Work experience: government, consulting, and academic. Research interests: international economics, regional economics, and the economics of developing countries.

Fahima Aziz, professor. BA 1979, Mount Holyoke College; MS 1984, University of Massachusetts, Amherst; PhD 1994, University of Minnesota. Research interests: labor economics, development economics, poverty and income inequality, and microcredit institutions.

Mary L. Bochnak, professor. BS 1972, MBA 1976, PhD 1982, University of Minnesota. Work experience: business, government and nonprofit organizations, and private consulting. Research interests: nonprofit organizations, financial and accounting models, real estate.

Stacie A. Bosley, visiting professor. BBA 1994, University of Wisconsin-Madison; PhD 2001, University of Minnesota. Work experience: information systems consulting. Research interests: labor economics and bounded rationality.

Elizabeth W. Gunderson, professor, chair. BAS 1976, University of Minnesota; MBA 1981, University of St. Thomas; PhD 1991, The Union Institute. Work experience: nonprofit organizations and private consulting. Research interests: forensic economics, security analysis.

James Hagen, associate professor. AB 1974, University of Michigan; MS 1988, University of Minnesota; Ph.D. 1997, University of Illinois; Experience: bank operations, commercial real estate, consulting; Research interests: foreign market entry, inter-organizational relations, East Asia.

Jennifer W. Keil, associate professor. BBA 1986, University of Michigan; MBA 1992, PhD 1999, University of Kansas. Work experience: securities industry. Research interests: compensation, gender pay differential, work-and-family issues.

J. Dan Lehmann, visiting assistant professor. BS 1974, MS 1975, PhD 1982, University of Illinois. Work experiences: business executive in international firms and consulting. Research interests: investments, corporate finance and management.

Sunil Ramlall, associate professor. BA and MBA, University of St. Thomas, Ph.D, University of Minnesota. Research interests include strategic human resource management, linkages between HR and form performance, International HR, and impact of layoffs.

Jack Reardon, visiting assistant professor, B.A. College of the Holy Cross 1981; M.A.1984, Ph.D. Economics 1991, University of Notre Dame 1984. Research Interests: Economics Education, Mergers and Acquisitions, Energy and the Environment. Editor: International Journal of Pluralism and Economics Education

Robert L. Routhieaux, associate professor. BS 1987, California State University, Chico. MS 1993, PhD 1995, University of Arizona. Work experience: restaurant and retail management, training and development, nonprofit and small business consulting / coaching. Research interests: organizational growth, change and sustainability in small business, health care, and nonprofits.

Karen Somerville, assistant professor. CGA, 1985, Certified General Accountants Assoc. of Ontario; MBA, 1990, University of Ottawa; PhD, 2008, Carleton University. Work experience: high technology sector, the federal government, management consulting, and not-for-profit organizations. Research interests: organizational change, organizational behaviour, women in management.

Nancy Webber, visiting instructor. BS 2002 and MBT 2004, University of Minnesota. Work experience: CPA with concentration in business taxation.