It has been our experience that both students and faculty benefit when there is an opportunity to get to know one another outside the classroom. Fortunately, the department has organized a campus club known formally as the Economics Club that is open to anyone interested in economics. Our goals include providing various social and academic activities as well as providing information on employment opportunities. On-campus activities include guest speakers in such areas as economic forecasting, city planning, banking, public utilities regulation, labor problems, and health economics. Off-campus activities include occasional parties and field trips. All students will receive notice of upcoming activities and everyone is encouraged to attend. Don't make the mistake of going through graduate school without becoming involved!

The Economics Department at The University of Akron received a charter in 1966 as the IOTA Chapter of Omicron Delta Epsilon (ODE). The objectives of this international organization are to recognize scholastic achievement and to promote closer ties between students and faculty in the same school and with economists at other schools. Currently, ODE has over 120 chapters with more than 28,000 members. Graduate students will be judged solely on their graduate work and will be considered for admission after completing one semester of full time course work with a grade point average of 3.0 or better. The department holds an annual spring banquet where students who meet the requirements are inducted into ODE and receive recognition for their outstanding achievements.

The Department of Economics and Buchtel College of Arts and Sciences inaugurated the Emile Grunberg Lecture Series in the Spring of 1988. The series honors the late Emile Grunberg, professor emeritus and eminent scholar in the fields of economic methodology and the philosophy of science. Professor Grunberg had a long and distinguished career with a publication record spanning over 50 years--from 1932 to 1986. He was on our faculty for approximately 20 years and served as department chair for 13 of those years.

To date, we have been privileged to have had eleven distinguished economists participate in the series: Nobel Laureates Herbert A. Simon (Carnegie-Mellon); Franco Modigliani (MIT); James Tobin (Yale); Robert Solow (MIT); Kenneth Arrow (Stanford); Lawrence Klein (University of Pennsylvania); Harry Markowitz (Baruch College); Douglass North (Washington University); and James Mirrlees (University of Cambridge, England). Also participating have been Richard Cyert, President Emeritus of Carnegie-Mellon University, and William W. Cooper (University of Texas at Austin). Nobel Laureates Robert Fogel (University of Chicago) and John Harsanyi (University of California, Berkeley) are tentatively scheduled to deliver the 12th and 13th lectures, respectively. We anticipate the lecture series will continue to present renowned economists for many years to come.

Every member of the University community has an obligation to become familiar with the rules and regulations that govern our behavior at the University. Three important sources of this information are: The University of Akron Graduate Bulletin and The University of Akron Graduate Assistantship Handbook, both available at Graduate School in Polskys, Room 467; and, University Rules and Regulations Concerning Campus Conduct and Student Discipline, available in the Student Conduct Office, Gardner Student Center, Room 104.

The department offers workshops involving department faculty, faculty from other universities, graduate students, and visitors. In the workshops, ongoing research by the faculty is presented. First-year graduate students are invited to attend the workshops while second-year students are encouraged to participate. Students who elect the thesis option or writing a master's paper are particularly encouraged to present their research in these workshops, thereby receiving frequent evaluation and avoiding precipitous changes in the direction of their research.

b. Theory and hypothesis: A sufficient level of theory and literature review should be presented in this section. The student should also present the plan for direction of research, including tentative hypothesis in this section.

c. Method of analysis: The student should present the data requirements, data availability, and/or analytic techniques in this section.

d. Contribution of thesis: In this section, the student should discuss the merits of his/her thesis.

e. Time frame for completion: An estimated timetable for completion of the thesis should be tentatively set up and presented in this section.