Newsletter - Volume 18, Issue 1

From the President - The Year Ahead

AUBER-units make a wide and varied contribution to their host institutions. And, people are noticing. By and large, the academic community recognizes that AUBER-units provide an invaluable service to the external community by enhancing the public understanding of the economy and public policy issues. But, some of our other contributions to academic life can occasionally be overlooked. In particular, we contribute to the academic mission of colleges, community colleges, and universities through conducting research, publishing research, and the training (read teaching) of students. For example, as we learned at our recent AUBER fall meeting in Bellingham, Washington, AUBER-units are producing high quality research on a variety of topics including economic forecasting and the study of border state economies. We also make a great contribution from a teaching perspective. With perhaps a bit of hyperbole, I argue to my colleagues that undergraduate students can learn as much from conducting a research project at an AUBER-unit as they can learn in an independent study or capstone research course. Graduate students can learn a lot as well. And, all this learning results from the patient efforts of AUBER faculty and staff to work with these students.

In the coming year, I hope to find ways to emphasize these contributions. I will go back and mine data we have gathered in our annual survey of directors about student employment, and publication activity by AUBER-units. I also hope to identify examples of students who have taken the lead on specific research projects and how that has helped their development and career prospects. Other suggestions are welcome! Look for a report summarizing all this to be distributed at the 2009 Fall Meeting.

We also plan this year to emphasize our collaboration with other University-based organizations. We are placing a renewed emphasis on developing our relationship with AACSB, and continuing our presence with AUBER sessions at academic meetings such as the Western Regional Science Association and the Western Economic Association. We also are reaching out to other University-based organizations, such as the University Economic Development Association (UEDA). Their Web site describes UEDA as “an organization of higher education institutions and their economic development affiliates.”

I expect to propose a plan for creating a “library of best practices” – containing examples of AUBER studies on a variety of topics that is available to AUBER members. The goal would be to provide examples of recent reports on topics as varied as the economic impact of cultural institutions to the prospects for alternative energy. My hope is that such a library could become both a key service that AUBER provides to its members, and a draw to other centers that may wish to join AUBER. To be honest, this is an idea that many have talked about for the last few years, and I simply hope to nail down exactly what it would take to make it happen. Then, we can decide whether to proceed.

Of course, our main goal this year will be to keep AUBER moving forward. In other words, to preserve what has been accomplished over the decades and keep going on recent initiatives from the last few years. I look forward to working with you on this over the next year. 

Plans for AUBER Spring Meeting

The AUBER Spring Meeting will once again be a joint conference with NABE. This year AUBER will present a session on State and Government Finances. AUBER will also be involved in the NABE Regional Utility Roundtable on Energy Independence. This is an especially timely topic and if you would like to know more about the session or can help in anyway, please contact Andy Brod, AndrewBrod@uncg.edu .

The AUBER Board will meet on Sunday afternoon from noon to 4:00 p.m. AUBER will again be hosting the Sunday Evening Reception.

Check the NABE website, http://www.nabe.com/. The Washington Economic Policy Conference this year is entitled “Restoring Financial and Economic Stability.” AUBER members will be able to register online. You do not register for the Spring Conference through the business office. This year the NABE conference will be March 1 through 3 at the Marriott Key Bridge Hotel in Arlington, VA.

News from the Business Office

With all of the bad economic news, the business office is pleased to report that AUBER has had another good year. The Fall 2008 conference in Bellingham was quite successful with 99 AUBERites and colleagues in attendance. With the sponsorships raised by the conference host, Hart Hodges of the Center for Economic and Business Research at Western Washington University, the conference met its goal of making a sufficient profit to pay for the spring conference.

Currently the AUBER membership stands at 75 centers and 17 individuals. Membership remains below the high level of approximately 100 in the early 1990s, but has been stable in the mid-70 range since 2004. The AUBER board proposes to invest about $5,000 in 2009 on marketing AUBER, including presenting a session at the AACSB conference. At the close of the 2007/08 year total assets stood at $119,297.

The business office has already been in contact with NABE to begin the arrangements for the Spring 2009 Conference.  The 2009 NABE meeting will be March 1 through 3, 2009.  It will be held at the Marriott Key Bridge Hotel in Arlington, VA.   As in the past you will register directly on the NABE website.  The business office will pass along any information we receive, but if you need more information about the NABE conference please visit their website at www.nabe.com.

The staff at Georgia Southern University is looking forward to our third year as the business office for AUBER.  Our first year was all hard work and learning.   Our second year, 2008, we felt the practice of our second membership billing and our second conference help us master the process.   We hope that in year three we get it right and we are looking forward to Austin! 

Put These on Your Calendar

The Global Interdependence Center (GIC) announces its 2009 Global Conference Series:  Food and Water-Basic Challenges to International Stability.   The four part series will be kicked off on February 5 in Philadelphia with a half day conference to be held at the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank.  The Conference will move to Paris, France March 24-26 where GIC will partner with the Banque de France.  The Central Bank of Zambia will sponsor the third leg of the conference May 27-28 in Livingstone Zambia.  The final leg will be held in Singapore November 19-20.

From Keith Schwer