Education:

• Ph.D., University of Washington
• B.A., Wake Forest University

Areas of Emphasis:

• Teaching Areas: Development Economics, Environmental Economics, and Intermediate Microeconomics
• Research Interests: Community forest management, Household energy use in developing countries

Education:

• Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin
• B.S., Oregon State University

Areas of Emphasis:

• Teaching Areas: Industrial Organization, History of Economic Thought, Statistics, and Microeconomics
• Research Interests: Bargaining and decission making in organizations

Biography:

Following his BA degree with honors in Economics and Mathematics from PLU in 1975, Norris Peterson completed his PhD in Economics from the University of Minnesota in 1983 and has been on the PLU faculty since 1980. A former Chair of the Faculty (2001-2002), he is currently serving as Dean of the Division of Social Sciences. He has taught a wide variety of courses, including the principles sequence, intermediate microeconomics, labor, game theory, mathematical economics, public finance, and MBA courses in theory and analytical methods. His research interests are the relationship between education level and income distribution, and economic education. He is the author of supplementary text and web-based material for both the principles sequence and the labor economics course for the Irwin/McGraw Hill college division. In addition to his teaching, research, and administrative responsibilities, he has an active consulting practice in forensic economics, specializing in the determination of lost earnings from wrongful death or termination.

Education:

• Ph.D., University of Minnesota, 1983
• B.A., Pacific Lutheran University, 1975

Areas of Emphasis:

• Research Interests: Economic education, income distribution, forensic economics
• Teaching Areas: Labor Economics, Mathematical Economics, Game Theory, Microeconomic Theory

Education:

• Ph.D., University of Washington
• B.A., Pacific Lutheran University

Areas of Emphasis:

• Teaching Areas: Resource and Energy Economics, International Trade and Commerical Policy
• Research Interests: Applied resource and energy economics, Trade and the environment, and Non-market valuation techniques

Biography:

Karen Travis is currently working with student Amy Spieker ('09)on using econometric modeling to assess the productivity of prenatal care on infant birthweight. Her prior work focuses on access to health care as affected by the payment mechanisms to providers. In particular, she has published work on health care access for pregnant Medicaid women (Economic Inquiry), indigent hypertensive patients (Journal of Pharmaceutical Finance, Economics, and Policy) and inpatient psychiatric patients. (American Journal of Psychiatry). Her primary teaching areas include econometrics, health economics, and the senior undergraduate research seminar. Prior to completing her Ph.D. in Economics at the University of Washington, she completed her B.S. with honors in Physics and Mathematics at the University of Puget Sound. She was an Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas before coming to Pacific Lutheran University in 1998. She is currently serving as Chair of Economics.

Education:

• Ph. D., University of Washington, 1995
• B.S., University of Puget Sound, 1986

Areas of Emphasis:

• Teaching Areas: Health Economics, Econometrics, and Introductory Statistics
• Research Interests: Physician Payment, Access to Health Care, Prenatal Care Productivity, and Economics Education

Biography:

Professor Wurm's research and teaching interests are the empirical aspects of financial economics, macroeconomics and economic development. He is currently working on several projects including banking sector development and property rights, the role of terrorism for investment and business cycle duration. Prior to completing his Ph.D. and M.A. in Economics at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, he completed his undergraduate work in Business and Economics at the Ludwigs-Maxillians-University in Munich and the University of Potsdam, Germany.

Education:

• Ph.D., Economics, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, 2009

Areas of Emphasis:

• Teaching Areas: Macroeconomics, Money and Banking, Managerial Economics and Statistics
• Research Interests: Financial Economics, Economic Development, Macroeconomics

Biography:

Chih-Wei Wang's research interests are international macroeconomics, money and banking and economics. He is currently working on several projects including commodity price dynamics, technology transfer and rare event data. Prior to completing his Ph.D. in Economics at Vanderbilt University, Chih-Wei completed his B.S. in Nuclear Physics and B.A. in Economics at National Tsing Hua University.

Education:

• Ph.D., Vanderbilt University, 2008
• B.S.; B.A., National Tsing Hua University, 2000

Areas of Emphasis:

• Teaching Areas: Macroeconomics, International Economics, and Econometrics
• Research Interests: International Macroeconomics, Money and Banking, and Applied Econometrics

Biography:

Brenda has worked over thirty years in academic settings. She came to PLU nine years ago from the Seattle University School of Law where she was the office manager for the Law Clinic for over five years. She is also a Notary Public.