ECONOMICS REPORT

Hui Feng, PhD Associate Director, Economics Program

I am pleased to present the annual report from the Economics program of the School of Management, Economics, and Mathematics (MEM) at King's University College, for the academic year 2023-2024. As we maintain our efforts in program development and research activity for the continuity of last year’s successes, we focused this year on student engagement and achievement.

Program Development Highlights

1. The honours specialization (HSP) in Financial Economics was approved in May 2024 by the Western Senate. This is the second honours program in our Economics stream, and we are excited to welcome enthusiastic students to this new HSP program in the fall 2024.

2. We have added 10 new courses to King’s academic calendar. Here is the exciting list:

• Economics of Sex and Gender (ECO 2142A/B)

• Economics of Health Care (ECO 2169F/G)

• Environmental Economics (ECO 2170A/B)

• Introduction to Islamic Finance (ECO 2180A/B)

• Economics of Sports (ECO 2182A/B)

• Economics of Wars (ECO 2183F/G)

• Behavioural Economics (ECO 3351F/G)

• Global Environmental Issues (ECO 3375A/B)

• Advanced Econometrics (ECO 3378A/B)

• Research Seminar in Economics and Finance (ECO 3398F/G)

Many of these courses will be offered during the 2024-25 school year and King’s students will have more options to select their favorite courses! Big thanks go to all the leaders in these course developments: Dr. Natalia Bezmaternykh, Professor Sunghoon Cho, Dr. Jafar El Armali, Professor Kristin Denniston, Dr. Hui Feng, Dr. Adian McFarlane, Professor Trevor Mederios, Dr. Renfang Tian, and Dr. Jingjing Xu!

1. This school year, we focused on students’ classroom participation. We have seen big improvements in classroom attendance and discussion, and are encouraging our faculty members to try more active ways to enhance students’ engagement in the classroom.

2. Exam review tutorials for the introductory and intermediate economics theory courses have been generously funded by the School of MEM. These tutorials have received positive feedback from our students. We have also received valuable suggestions from both the course instructors and students, and are confident that more and more students will benefit from this wonderful service.

3. This school year, students research/project contests were held in both semesters. Seven groups of Economics students won Research Excellence awards. The projects are related to their term project/research in ECO 2222, ECO 2223 and ECO 3313 courses. Congratulations to our winning teams!

4. We are helping our students on their career path after graduation. In October 2023, Dr. Tian ran workshops on applying for graduate school in Economics. In March 2024, we held a celebration for all our students who were admitted to graduate programs around the world. This event was well received by our students and faculty members. More than 60 students attended, and our students’ successful experience has been generously shared with MEM’s future graduate school enthusiasts! Well done!

5. In October 2023, we invited Dr. Shudan Liu, a seasoned Senior Rish Manager who is a team leader in Global Rish Management-Treasurer Risk and Liquidity Rish model validation, to conduct a workshop on financial job interviews at King’s (featured on the cover page).

6. Marcus Calloo, who graduated with an HSP in Economics in 2017, returned to campus to give his advice on career planning to our third- and fourth-year students in Economics.

Other Highlights

1. Dr. Jason Dean renewed his tenure probationary contract with King’s University College, and we have high hopes that he will be promoted to tenure and associate professor in two years.

2. Professor Trevor Medeiros received a King’s Award of Excellence in Teaching Excellence in 2024. This was his second nomination for this prestigious award. Congratulations, Trevor! Thank you for your dedication to King’s students, especially students from the School of MEM.

Congratulations, Professor Trevor Medeiros, for receiving an award of Excellence in King's Teaching Excellence in 2024!

In conclusion, the academic year 2023-2024 was marked by significant achievements and milestones in the Economics programs at the School of MEM. Our continuing commitment to program development, research excellence, and student engagement has resulted in notable advancements and positive outcomes. We extend our sincere gratitude to all faculty members, staff, students, and stakeholders who have contributed to the success of our Economics programs. Together, we will continue to build on our achievements and uphold our commitment to excellence in education and scholarship.