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Newsletter - Volume 18, Issue 4
From the AUBER Board
The results are in. The 2008/09 AUBER Board unanimously approved the Nominating Committee recommendation of Dr. Marshall J. Vest as this year’s recipient of the Fellow of AUBER award.
The Fellow of AUBER is awarded to someone who has been a long-time supporter of AUBER including such service as: chaired committees; frequent organizer of session at conferences; and, has hosted and/or been a program chair for conferences. Of course Marshall has done all of those things many, many times. How many AUBERites still have the 2004 Tuscan Conference bolo?
Dr. Vest is the director of the Eller Economic and Business Research Center (EBR) at the University of Arizona. Congratulations Marshall.
The Austin Conference is Upon Us
Hang a sign on your door “GONE TO TEXAS.” The weather has finally cooled off and Texas is finally drying out from unusually heavy rains. It is time once more for the annual Fall Conference. Like the trip to Memphis, bring your dancin’ shoes. Seriously this year’s Fall conference will deliver value for your conference dollar with a variety of topics that are vital to all centers. Plenary sessions will look at the national and international economic outlook for recovery as well as the role of monetary policy has and will play as the recession and recovery continue to unfold. With centers so much the focus for measurement, reporting and interpretation of the economy, success coach and media trainer, Annetta Wilson will provide insights on dealing with media, creating sound bites, methods for steering interviews and this age of so much visual media, how to make your body language may be as important as the words you speak. Conference goers will have a chance to work with Annetta one-on-one. Other session will look at best practices for conducting economic impact studies of universities, how to use e-mail, webinars, and new media to get your center’s message out to the widest possible audience. There will also be special sessions looking at the economics of the border region, data program by the Census, the BLS and the BEA.
President's Reflection on 2008/2009
With Fall approaching, it is time to get ready for the annual AUBER Fall meeting which this year will be held in Austin, Texas from October 18th- October 20th. I am looking forward to this year’s meeting in Austin. It is a city I have always wanted to visit, but have never had a chance to see, until now.It also will be another interesting meeting. We are all indebted to Sean Snaith of the University of Central Florida for his work as Program Chair and Bruce Kellison and Coral Franke of the University of Texas for planning and organizing the meeting. I hope to see all of you in Austin, so please register for the conference and to stay at the conference hotel as soon as possible, if you have not done so already. This can be done through links available at the AUBER Website www.auber.org. Also, if you have not had a chance to renew your AUBER membership, please do so ahead of our annual meeting.
The meeting also will mark some important transitions for AUBER, from an administrative standpoint. After the fall meeting, the University of Montana will assume the business office duties for AUBER from Georgia Southern University and Pat Barkey of the University of Montana will become our new Secretary-Treasurer. Jen Whitfield of the University of West Florida will once again take on Webmaster duties. Of course, many thanks to Phyllis Isley for her work as AUBER Secretary-Treasurer over the last 3 years. Thanks also to Joy West and Davin Miller of Georgia Southern University for their many efforts on behalf of AUBER in the business office, and for Davin’s work in designing and administering our new website.
I know that next year will be a productive one for AUBER and its member organizations. And, in my view, it needs to be. Our University’s need us, and the insights we provide about the economy, even more during this period of economic uncertainty. Further, as I’ve always argued, our University’s need our contributions to their core goals of research and teaching. This was confirmed in the results of this year’s AUBER Directors survey, which was recently completed under the leadership of Hart Hodges of Western Washington University. Among other things, questions on the survey asked about the amount of student training (i.e. teaching) going on at each AUBER unit, and about the academic publications by faculty members within each AUBER unit. Based on survey responses, and assuming a total of 70 member organizations, AUBER members employed and trained an estimated 660 students last year. Most of these students were part-time employees, but then again a college course is also only a part-time activity. There was quite a lot of learning by quite a few student workers around the country.
On the research front, survey results indicate that AUBER members (assuming 70) would have produced approximately 90 peer-reviewed articles and other scholarly work (Books, Book Reviews, etc.) during the last year. AUBER Director’s reported publications in prestigious journals such as the American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Applied Economics, Demography, Journal of the American Statistical Association, Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking, Journal of Regional Science, Journal of Transportation, National Tax Journal, Papers in Regional Science, and Review of Economics and Statistics over the course of their careers. This represents a substantial contribution to academic research.
By Eric Thompson
President, AUBER 2008/09
