Professional Experience

Academics

• Illinois Wesleyan University, Dean, School of Business and Economics & Robert S. Eckley Endowed Professor of Economics, 2023 - present

• West Virginia University, Assistant Professor, 2015-18; Associate Professor, 2018 - 23

• Center for Free Enterprise, faculty affiliate, 2015-18; Associate Director, 2019-21; Director, 2021 - 23

• University of Corsica, Visiting Senior Scholar, 2018

• University of Sassari, Visiting Senior Scholar, 2010-2017

• Saint Bonaventure University, Associate Professor, 2011-15

• Saint Bonaventure University, Chair - Department of Finance, 2013-15

• Wake Forest University, Assistant Professor, 2007-11

• Elmira College, Assistant Professor, 2003-07

• Pennsylvania State University, Graduate Instructor, 2000-03

Leadership

• Director for the CFE promoting graduate student development. I obtained funding for grad student assistantships &research-related travel, coordinated an internal seminar series, organized a weekly grad reading group, and hosted  a two-week summer program for grad students in cutting edge empirical methods

• Executive Committee member for the Southern Economic Association coordinating and recruiting academic session featuring grad student research.

• Executive Committee member for the Public Choice Society .

• Executive Committee member for the Association of Private Enterprise Education

• Serve on the Board of Directors for a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization (Embrace It Africa) conducting relief activities in rural Uganda

• Coordinator of a 3+3 Law and Economics program which brings students into the economics major and fast-tracks them to their JD at WVU Law. This includes advising a student Law and Economics Club on campus.

• As finance dept chair I (i) oversaw a curriculum review by the CFA Institute, (ii) engaged in the hiring and assessment of junior and visiting faculty, (iii) oversaw the dept's $600,000 student-run portfolio, (iv) led an initiative to have all my faculty trained in best practices in online education, (v) scheduled and reviewed curriculum for both the undergraduate and MBA program

• Elected faculty representative to Faculty Senate, which included being the observer to the Board of Trustees Development Committee

• Served on the Executive Steering Committee of an NSF-funded RCN bringing together scholars across fields in plea bargaining

Media

• Interviewed on Free to Choose (TV show; Lubbock, TX) on the incentives of judges and prosecutors (watch the show)

• Interviewed on Carolina Journal Radio (radio show; Raleigh) on judicial election rules in North Carolina (watch the show)

• Interviewed on Econversations (TV show; Troy, AL) on incentives of judges and prosecutors (watch the show)

• Interviewed on Conversations at the Computational Justice Lab on prosecutor incentives

• Interviewed by WDTV News (Charleston, WV) on minimum wages

Opinion/Op-Ed Pieces

• Dominion Post (Morgantown, WV), State Should Look at OKing Approval Voting (May 2016)

• Bradford Era (Bradford, PA), Local Unemployment Rates Drop, But It May Not Be A Good Sign (Oct 2014)

• Post-Journal (Jamestown, NY), Economy Casts False Light of Hope (Oct 2014)

• Olean Times Herald (Olean, NY), Protectionism is Not the Answer (Oct 2014)

• Buffalo News (Buffalo, NY), Celebrating 100 Years of Penalizing Work (Oct 2013)

• Business Journal, Central New York (NY), How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Embrace the Minimum Wage (April 2013)

• Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, NC), Unintended Benefit of Adjusting District Attorney’s Offices (May 2011)

• Buffalo News (Buffalo, NY), Elections Influence Decisions of DAs (Oct 2011) Era 

• News and Observer (Raleigh, NC), Do District Attorneys Campaign in the Courtroom? (Oct 2011) 

Consulting/Outreach

• International Baccalaureate Instructor, Archbishop Walsh Academy, 2013-15 (developed and delivered a two-year economics course as part of an IB diploma program)

• Saputo Corporation, consultant, New York, 2014 (provided employee education for a new ESOP)

• One Three Media, consultant, California, 2014 (consulted on TV show development)

• Classifier, Social Science Research Network, 2013-14 (reviewed and classified economics research for SSRN)

updated June 2023