News and Announcements

Western Alumnus Brings Global Perspective to Economics

Graduating from the Western Economics MA program at age 18 in 1981, Andrew S. Nevin was then the youngest to ever complete a graduate degree at Western. Today Nevins is helping Canada find its economic place in the world as the top economist in Nigeria. See the Alumni Gazette for the full story

Alumnus Pursues Racing Dream

Pete McLeod (BA’07) recently became the first Canadian to claim an overall podium in the Red Bull Air Race World Championship, third place at the season finale in October at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. When asked about his time at Western, where he pursued a Specialization in Economics, McLeod had this to say, “You learn so much at a place like Western, more than just in the classroom. They’re helping to prepare people for a variety of things and that’s something I always take with me. It was a great four years of my life.” See Western News for the full story.

Debra Merrifield Wins Western's Highest Staff Honor

Congratulations are extended to Debra Merrifield who has been awarded the 2017 Western Award of Excellence. Debra is being honored for her professional dedication and thoughtful service to Western as the Department of Economics' Administrative Officer. See Western News for the full story.

Terry Sicular Wins 2017 Sun Yefang Prize in Economic Science

Congratulations to Terry Sicular who has won the 2017 Sun Yefang Prize in Economics Science for her book An Analysis of Trends in China’s Income Gaps—Research on the Distribution of Income in China IV (Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 2013) co-authored (in Chinese) with Shi Li and Hiroshi Sato. The Sun Yefang Prize is China's most prestigious award for research in economics, awarded biennially since 1984 for published works that are judged by a committee of distinguished Chinese economists to be significant contributions to economic research in China.

UA Awards Alumnus Cynthia Wang's Paper Highly Commended Status

For the second year in a row, a Western Economics student has been awarded the Highly Commended status from The Undergraduate Awards (UA) Programme. Every year, UA coordinates an awards programme for penultimate and final year undergraduate students and the best 10% of work submitted is shortlisted as Highly Commended. This year, Cynthia Wang’s honors thesis “The Impacts of Negative Interest Rates on the Eurozone Economy” was shortlisted. Cynthia Wang graduated with her Honors Specialization in Global Economics in June 2017. You can see the full list of Highly Commended recipients here.

Jim MacGee on Mortgage Insurance Deductibles – Media Coverage

Jim MacGee’s research suggests Ottawa should reject a proposal to spread more risk to mortgage lenders from insurers as ineffective and recommends a better approach. See the recent C.D. Howe report, Mortgage Insurance Deductibles: An Idea Whose Time Hasn’t Come with coauthor Thorsten V. Koeppl, as well as an op-ed piece in the Globe and Mail, Calgary Herald as well as an interview on BNN.

Zinaida Kalinina Foltin Chosen for Lindau Meeting on Economic Sciences

Congratulations to Ph.D. candidate, Zina Kalinina Foltin who has been invited by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council to join a group of 360 young scholars from 66 nations to attend the sixth Lindau Meeting on Economic Sciences to be held this August in Germany. The Lindau Meetings provide an opportunity to exchange ideas with Nobel laureates. See Western News.

Stephen Williamson to Join Western Economics

The Department of Economics will welcome Stephen Williamson in July 2017 when he takes up the Stephen A. Jarislowsky Chair in Central Banking. An expert in monetary policy, Williamson will come to Western from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis as Vice President in the Research Department. Read more about Williamson here.

Economics Students Write On Shaping Skills for a New Industrial Revolution – Western News

"Shaping Skills for a New Industrial Revolution," Western News April 20, 2017, suggests that students will need to concentrate on acquiring skills that involve creativity, critical thinking and emotional intelligence. In a rapidly changing technological world with machines replacing routine-based tasks, they state that individuals must strive to remain irreplaceable. The article was written by Western Economics students Michelle Ampadu, Anudeep Sultania, Alafiya Shabir, Liam Wicken, Tobi Tayo and Connor Campbell who are members of the student led UWO Collaborative Economics Initiative.

Congratulations to 2016-2017 Graduate and Undergraduate Teaching Award Winners

Western Economics is pleased to announce that Victor Aguiar was nominated by the graduate students as Graduate Professor of the Year and Elizabeth Caucutt was nominated by the undergraduate students as Undergraduate Professor of the Year. Ziyu Zhang was selected as the 2016-2017 Graduate Teaching Assistant of the Year. Bob Millard was named Tutorial Leader of the Year by the first-year class of undergraduate students.

George Orlov - Finalist in 3 Minute Thesis Competition

Congratulations to George Orlov (PhD expected 2017) who has won a place among 20 finalists in Western’s 3MT (3 Minute Thesis) competition. Graduate students have three minutes or less to present their research and its impact to a panel of non-specialist judges and peers. George will participate in Western’s final round competition on April 5, 2017 with his talk entitled, "Language Training and Immigrants' Success in Canada".

Alumna Randy Lai Featured in Extraordinary Alumni Series

Randy Lai (BA 1993) is the most recent Economics alumna to be featured in Western’s Extraordinary series. She is being recognized for her success in business in her current role as Managing Director of McDonald’s Hong Kong since 2011, her numerous awards in management, leadership, marketing and operations excellence, and her community involvement. See Be Extraordinary.

Alumnus Cleviston Haynes Appointed Acting Governor of the Central Bank of Barbados

The Barbados Government Service announced on February 24, 2017 that Cleviston Haynes (MA 1983), currently Deputy Governor, will be appointed to act as Governor of the Central Bank of Barbados. Since joining the Research Department at the Bank as an economist in 1980, Cleviston has held several other positions including the Deputy Governor post since January 2010. [Read more.]

Ananth Ramanarayanan Speaks to Radio Western on NAFTA

Professor Ananth Ramanarayanan was recently interviewed by Mohammad Abrar from Radio Western about the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), talking first about the agreement’s inception and purpose. Later, Ramanarayanan suggested consequences that may arise from the United States either withdrawing from or renegotiating trade deals. (CHRW 94.9, Thursday, February 16, 2017.)

John Knight Leaves Lasting Legacy

London Health Sciences Centre announced on February 14, 2017 that Professor Emeritus John Knight, who passed away in January 2016, donated $5.25 million towards the Translational Ovarian Cancer Research team in memory of his wife Mary, who died from ovarian cancer in 2008. The Victoria Hospital atrium has been named the Mary and John Knight Atrium in recognition of their estate gift. Read more.