Dr. Ehsan Ahmed, Department Head
Phone: (540) 568-3215/3216
Email: ahmedex@jmu.edu
Location: Zane Showker Hall, Room 434
Website: http://www.jmu.edu/cob/economics
Professors
E. Ahmed, J. Doyle, S. Elwood, W. Fields, R. Horn, R. Jerome, B. Rosser, M. Rosser, W. Wood
Associate Professors
V. Bhatt, N. Cavusoglu, W. Grant, S. Milliman, A. Neveu, A. Smith, J. Subrick
Assistant Professor
B. Brunton
Lecturers
P. Heap, Z. Gochenour, J. Robinson, M. Sameni
Mission
The Department of Economics is committed to students’ intellectual development by fostering an understanding and appreciation of economic forms of explanation and their relationships to other social sciences. Economics faculty members are dedicated to sound and effective pedagogy, to scholarship of the highest quality and to outreach to the local and business community.
The department provides an intellectual foundation for the appreciation and understanding of economic theory and policy. This foundation is developed within a broader educational perspective that stresses the importance of imaginative thinking, free inquiry and the pursuit of life-long learning. In this way, the program prepares students with the economic literacy necessary to cope with the challenges inherent in a world of accelerating change.
Goals
- Help students develop analytical and critical thinking skills.
- Promote cross disciplinary forms of instruction.
- Seek continuous improvement in the quality of classroom instruction.
- Serve the community through outreach services.
- Help students pursue careers and additional education.
Marketable Skills
- Analytical thinking capabilities highly valued by business, government and the nonprofit sector.
- Writing and research skills applicable to a wide variety of careers.
- Statistical and econometric skills used in business and finance.
- Preparation in critical thinking valued by graduate schools, including law, business, and arts and sciences.
- Analytical skills valued by employers for internships in business, government and consulting.
Co-curricular Activities and Organizations
Admission to the Major
Students wishing to pursue a B.A., B.B.A. or B.S. degree program in economics must be formally admitted to the program in order to enroll in the required core courses ECON 331 , ECON 332 and ECON 385 , which all require grades of “C” or better in their prerequisite courses. In order to be admitted as either a B.A. or B.S. candidate, the student must have at least three semesters remaining at JMU to complete the degree requirements. In order to be accepted as a B.B.A. candidate, the student must also meet all of the College of Business admission requirements (described in the College of Business of the catalog).
To declare an economics major, students must submit the “Change or Declaration of Major” form and a copy of an unofficial transcript to the department head’s office in Showker Hall, Room 434.
Credit by Examination
Credit in ECON 200 will be granted to students who achieve a grade of 4 or 5 on the Advanced Placement Test in Macroeconomics administered by the Educational Testing Service. Credit in ECON 201 will be granted to students who achieve a grade of 4 or 5 on the Advanced Placement Test in Microeconomics.
The minimum requirement for a minor in economics is 18 credit hours in economics, including ECON 200 , ECON 201 and at least six credit hours of either 300 or 400 level economics courses. Students may not receive credit towards the minor in economics for both ECON 270 and ECON 370 .
Degree and Major Requirements
Economics majors choose from a B.A., B.S. or B.B.A. degree. The B.A. and B.S. degrees are traditional liberal arts degrees that lead to a variety of career and graduate school options; the B.B.A. is designed to prepare students for careers in business.
Bachelor of Business Administration in Economics
The B.B.A. degree in economics requires a minimum of 120 credit hours of undergraduate work of which 60 credit hours must be taken outside the College of Business. The 60 credit hours of non-business courses may include all General Education program credits, up to nine hours in economics (including ECON 200) and three hours of COB 191. The remaining hours must be taken from any academic unit outside the College of Business. It is recommended that students carefully select non-business electives to effectively complement their economics and business education.
The minimum requirement for a B.B.A. degree in economics is 33 credit hours of economics including 18 credit hours of core courses and 15 credit hours of electives. B.B.A. students also complete the core business requirements as well as complete the General Education program.
Concentration in Financial Economics
The minimum requirement for a B.A., B.S. or B.B.A. degree in economics with a concentration in financial economics is 27 credit hours of required economics courses and 12 credit hours of required finance courses (in addition to previous requirements).
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