Economists work at the forefront of many vital current issues: how to combat poverty and unemployment, how to provide adequate health care, how to protect the environment, even how to reduce crime, reform education, and fight terrorism. Economics is more than a body of knowledge; it is a way of thinking. As a vice president of a mult-ibillion dollar corporation once put it: "Economics teaches us to confront problems, to size them up and to wrestle with creative solutions. And that is what firms hire you to do."
There are many reasons to study economics, and many more to do it at Winthrop. Here's what you will find at Winthrop:
You will find award-winning classroom instruction. We have five full-time faculty members, all with PhDs, who are united in a common mission of providing the best possible education for our students. Almost all have won college and/or university-wide awards for the quality of their classroom teaching. It is unlikely that any other economics department in the U.S. can boast of such a record.
You will find faculty members who want to get to know you and help you succeed both here at Winthrop and after graduation. Each spends many hours working with students outside of the classroom. Some of the interaction involves academic and career advisement, but much involves informal conversations that cross almost every conceivable topic from sports to politics to religion. We also offer interaction through student-faculty cookouts and Economics Club programming.
Classes are small and are taught only by faculty members, never by graduate students. Our introductory classes average about 40 students and upper-level classes average about 20.
A student who had taken an introductory class in a previous year stopped by her former professor's office to ask if he would help her understand the recent financial crisis. After talking and laughing (economists find humor even in financial crises) for 45 minutes she thanked him and said "I'm sorry if talking with me stopped you from getting your work done." He replied: "You are my work."
You will find many academic opportunities outside of the regular classroom as well. Our students take advantage of exchange programs both within the U.S. and abroad, internships, honors courses, and independent research under the direction of faculty members, all of whom have published multiple articles in professional journals in recent years.
You will interact with a very diverse group of students. In addition to sharing in the excellent racial mix of students that are attracted to Winthrop, economics is the major of choice of a disproportionate number of international students. In recent years students from such disparate countries as Algeria, Brazil, England, Iceland, Israel, Liberia, Nepal, Peru, Serbia, Spain, Tunisia and Vietnam have graduated in economics at Winthrop.
Our students have been successful in entering graduate programs, in landing promising entry level jobs and, more importantly, in advancing in those positions through time. Click here to view a video produced by the American Economics Association on what you can do with economics.
Economics is housed in the College of Business and Technology as part of the Department of Accounting, Finance, and Economics. Winthrop University offers a B.S. in Business Administration with an Economics Concentration for students interested in pursuing economics.
We also offer a minor in economics and participate in the interdisciplinary programs of Environmental Sciences and Environmental Studies.
