This has been a year of transition and renewal for Resource Economics. We said goodbye to three senior colleagues: John Stranlund retired after a long and distinguished career in environmental economics, and Nathan Chan and David Keiser left for new positions. Losing that much experience at once is not easy. What I am proudest of is how the department responded. We ran two searches and hired three excellent colleagues. Jaeyong (Danny) Han and Pan Chen join us as Assistant Professors in environmental and natural resource economics, and Donna Spraggon returns to the department as a Lecturer in statistics and applied econometrics, bringing with her deep knowledge of our curriculum and our students. All three strengthen areas where our teaching and research programs needed reinforcement.
Our students remain our best argument. Five of our Ph.D. students completed their degrees this year and secured academic placements: at Michigan State University, Bowling Green State University, Texas A&M University, the University of Findlay, and the University of California, San Diego. Placing an entire cohort in academic positions is a genuine achievement in one of the most difficult markets economics has seen in years, and it reflects the training and the mentoring our faculty provide. This fall we welcome another strong graduate cohort: four new Ph.D. students and one 4+1 master's student. Our undergraduate program also continues to be a source of strength, with steady enrollment in both Managerial Economics and Environmental and Natural Resource Economics.
We have also worked deliberately on the department's visibility. Through our development and alumni outreach — regular updates to alumni and donors, the annual alumni panel, and a new undergraduate internship dedicated to finding and telling our stories — we are building a more consistent connection to the wider ResEc community. That work is just beginning, and it depends on hearing from you.
I believe the department is well positioned for what comes next. The environment is changing quickly: artificial intelligence is reshaping how economics is taught and practiced, and government policy and research funding are shifting under all of us. We are built for this kind of moment. We are a dynamic department focused on policy-relevant questions, and we adapt quickly to what matters. I look forward to a year of continued success by our faculty and students, and to keeping our broader ResEc community —alumni, former faculty and staff, and friends of the department — informed and engaged in what happens here. Please stay in touch.
Christian Rojas
Chair, Department of Resource Economics