Biography

I was born in Summit, New Jersey in 1964 and have lived all over the country. I graduated from high school in near San Diego and went to college in North Carolina. I then taught high school math and science for two years in Virginia before going to Florida State to work on a Ph.D. in economics.

When I was growing up I wanted to be a meteorologist because I was fascinated by the 1938 hurricane that hit Southern California. I always wondered what it would be like to experience a big storm. That fascination began when I was small boy. My grandmother, who passed away in 2007, lived on the Mississippi River in Louisiana. She told me stories of the storms that blew off roofs and flooded the sugarcane fields. Anyway, my interest in the weather remains to today but college physics snapped me out of that goal. I ended up majoring in mathematics as an undergraduate.

Almost by chance, I took a few courses in economics and enjoyed the subject matter. Still, as an undergraduate I only took four economics classes and nothing beyond the intermediate level. As it turns out, I had the kind of background that graduate programs in economics were looking for.  I was also extremely fortunate to meet my wife of 20 years, Leslie, before heading off to graduate school. She is my helper and best friend. Leslie teaches part-time in the English Department here at Penn State.

After completing the Ph.D. at Florida State I got my first appointment at Goucher College (near Baltimore). Goucher is a wonderful small college with very small class sizes (I never taught more than 15 students in any class!) but Baltimore was too expensive. So after two years we moved to Grove City College in Western Pennsylvania, where I taught for eight years. Grove City (small town, conservative, and religious) was the polar opposite of Goucher (big city, liberal, and secular) and if it weren’t for a fateful dinner meeting with an old friend who informed me about an opening at Penn State, I wouldn’t have ended up here. The upshot is that I’ve moved from teaching small classes to large ones and from small colleges to one of the biggest in the country. That is not your typical career track in academics! However, I try to think of a lecture hall like a small class instructor. I am used to interaction with students and enjoy doing classroom activities that involve everyone in the course.

We also have two wonderful children, Noelle and Nick.

You can also check out my Facebook link: http://psu.facebook.com/profile.php?id=9368443

I hope you have a great semester!