Spring 2015
GCC professors, visiting scholar featured at international economic conference
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rove City College economics professors took on financial crises past and present at the Ludwig Von Mises Institute of Canada’s International Conference of Prices & Markets 2014. Department of Economics Chair Dr. Jeffrey Herbener, Dr. Shawn Ritenour and visiting professor Dr. David Rapp presented their scholarly work at a session titled “Monetary Policy, What is it Good For?” during the November conference at the University of Toronto, St. George Campus, Canada. Herbener discussed “Monetary Policy Mistakes of 1937,” pinning the Great Depression’s extension on investor wariness over New Deal monetary, fiscal and regulatory policies. Ritenour argued that calls in the wake of the 2008 crisis to stop adjusting gross domestic product numbers for inflation won’t lead to better macroeconomic coordination. Rapp’s presentation analyzed the harmful impact that central banks’ low interest policy has on business valuation and argued that mainstream policies contributed to the 2008 crisis by misleading investors and driving up market booms and accelerating market busts. He offered an alternative business valuation theory based on Austrian economics that could limit the effects of market intervention by central banks. Rapp, of the Institute of Auditing at Saarland University in Saarbruecken, Germany, taught classes during the fall 2014 semester. His work was supported by a generous donor. The International Conference of Prices & Markets is part of the Ludwig Von Mises Institute of Canada’s efforts to spread the teachings of the Austrian School of Economics in that country. It is one of many independent Mises institutes operating in more than 20 countries. The teachings of Mises and the Austrian school, which place human choice at the center of economic theory, are foundational to Grove City College’s economics department.
Pop Quiz!
After Modern Languages professor Harvey Cole retires in May with 52 years of teaching at the College, which current faculty member has the most years of service?
Dr. Fred Brenner, professor of biology, kicks back in his office.
Paper by Brenner, alums accepted by journal
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r. Fred Brenner, professor of biology, Michael Enright ’99, Larissa Cassano ’12 and Katherine R. Beyer-Kramer ’09 had a paper accepted for publication in the Journal of the Pennsylvania Academy of Science. The paper – “Comparison of Growth Among Different Age Classes of Large Mouth Bass Populations in Two Impoundments in Northwest Pennsylvania” – studied the growth rates of fish in two man-made lakes. Brenner says the research suggests a greater population of smaller fish drives up bass growth. The work provides essential data for wildlife and resource management professionals. Enright is currently the resource manager of the Dayton, Ohio, Metro Park System. Cassano is an educator at Munnell Run Farm, an environmental center outside of Mercer, Pa., and an assistant swimming coach at the College. Beyer-Kramer worked most recently at an environmental center in Maryland. All are former students of Brenner.
Hint: He/she is in the Hopeman School. Those who respond with the correct answer will have a chance to win a prize! Contact the Marketing and Communications Office at news@gcc.edu or on Twitter @GroveCtyCollege PopQuiz.
Fall issue Pop Quiz winners!
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ongratulations to the winners of last issue’s Pop Quiz: Sandra (Kressley ’88) Jerich, Marsha (Mulholland ’94) Washburn, Jeff Marsh ’97, Laura (Shute ’97) Roberts and Sue (Savage ’79) Barton. In answer to the question, “What role is (retiring professor) Dr. James Dixon planning to play in the spring?,” they correctly answered ‘Prospero’ in “The Tempest.” Eighteen people submitted the right answer. Thanks to all who participated.
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