This Friday (Oct. 5^th) is the WSOY Community Food Drive to benefit Catholic charities and the Salvation Army, which offer aid to the Good Samaritan Inn, Oasis Day Center, etc…  This is one of the community charities that the college takes great pride in being a part of.  To help promote a little bit of excitement and spread the word on the significance of this charity, Richland turns collection into a small friendly competition…

Each division in the college is given a 3 credit hour scholarship to give away! 

The Math and Sciences Division, of which Economics is a part, has elected to give away their scholarship to the student who donates the most non-perishable, prepackaged food items or cash donations. To donate you must bring all items to me or S119 and fill out a donation slip.  Item will stop accepting contributions at 5:00pm on Thursday.  To add to that, I will give 10 extra credit points on the Midterm and…

I am ALSO offering the student with the most donations a scholarship for a 3 credit hour course (in-district) at Richland Community College!

If you are the student who raises the most food items in the division and among the Economics courses, you would receive two 3 credit hour course scholarships.  Aside from being a charitable activity, this provides us a great starting point for a few upcoming discussions, such as Government run programs and Foreign Aid. 

*Note: If you will not be attending Richland in the Spring Semester or if you already have a scholarship, come talk to me and we can try to find another academic expense to contribute the monetary equivalent.

If you have any other questions please let me know.

Macroeconomics 01, MWF 9:00am:

Biltmore/Easter Island notes; Due Friday, Sept. 28

Macroeconomics 02, TTh 9:30am:

Biltmore/Easter Island notes; Due Thursday, Sept. 27

Macroeconomics 03, TTh 12:30pm:

Biltmore/Easter Island notes; Due Thursday, Sept. 27

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Microeconomics 01, MWF 11:00am:

PCM assign; Due Monday, Oct. 1

Macroeconomics 01, MWF 9:00am:

Restriction assign; Due Friday, Sept. 14**

Test #1; Monday, Sept. 17

Macroeconomics 02, TTh 9:30am:

Restriction assign; Due Thursday, Sept. 13**     

Test #1; Tuesday, Sept. 18

Macroeconomics 03, TTh 12:30pm:

Restriction assign; Due Thursday, Sept. 13**     

Test #1; Tuesday, Sept. 18

** I strongly recommend turning in the Restriction assign. early.  I will post an answer key to this assignment but having back your work will be very beneficial in helping you prepare for Test #1.

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Microeconomics 01, MWF 11:00am:

Utility assign; Due Wednesday, Sept. 12

Cost Schedule 1 assign; Due Friday, Sept. 14**

Cost Schedule 2 assign; Due Monday, Sept. 17

Test #1; Wednesday, Sept. 19

** If you can submit this assignment prior to Friday I’ll be able to have it back to you for the weekend to help with Cost Schedule assign. 2.  You can either print it out and fill-in-the-blanks or just create a new table in Excel and email it to me.

We are now in full swing for Fall Semester.  As you start to get assignments back, look to prepare for the upcoming exams, and start to work your way through the material; I think it’s helpful to remind you of a few things:

I want to help and work with you outside of class.  Remember that when I present material in class, I need to do it in the manner most applicable for the greater good of the class.  This doesn’t mean it was the method that best suits your own learning style.  If you don’t understand a concept, want to go over an assignment, want to ask a question or raise a counterpoint, etc… please start the communication with me.  In a one-on-one setting I can cater to the style most beneficial to you.  I can guide examples towards a subject that interests you and can help you find the little gaps in understanding.  A significant amount of the time when a student simple “doesn’t understand,” it is really just a small piece of information that is holding them up… not a huge roadblock.  I have been doing this job for a long time because I enjoy it and enjoy working with students.  Trust that I’m good at my job; if you need the help come see me.  I will give you as much effort back as you give me!

I recommend you purchase the textbook for this course but I do not require it.  This means that you will not be given any assignments or readings directly from it.  Most students have viewed the textbook as unnecessary for successfully completing this course… that does not mean you may not need it.  If you find yourself struggling with the information or seeking outside sources for clarification I would strongly recommend you purchase the textbook.  The text is especially helpful for math (Micro students) and outlining the graphs (Macro students).  Remember that the older editions are online for very cheap!  I may even be able to let you borrow one of my copies overnight if you need it.

If you have other courses, work, children or other obligations you should make sure to get your work for this course done especially early… I cannot accept ANY excuses for missed/late items.  If you wait until the last minute and have an issue arise, this will hurt your grade regardless of whether it was your fault or not.  All students must be given the same grading requirements and course expectations.  I can’t make exceptions; that would be discriminatory against the rest of the students.  LIFE HAPPENS!  I know this, I’ve been through it when I was a student and I’ve seen it happen every semester as a professor.  Being ahead of the game can save you a lot of trouble and give you one less thing to worry about, at the same time you still get to achieve your goal!! 

Make your answers easy for me to grade.  You should have noticed that most questions have multiple parts.  For these questions create your answer in multiple parts, not one giant paragraph.  By doing this you are presenting to me each answer, this will help to avoid any confusion on what part of your explanation is answering which part of a question.  If I can’t readily identify your final answer, than I can’t award you any points.  Use the terms we discuss in class, make sure your explanations don’t accidently raise other questions, make sure you’ve answered the question that was asked and didn’t diverge off track, and make sure your re-read your answer to verify it says what you are trying to convey to me.  These seem like obvious suggestions, but you will see that as you get caught up in the material or a particular example it’s easy to get off track… those are silly points to lose and could end up adding up during the semester.  

Showing up to class and doing homework won’t guarantee you a good grade.  You actually have to pay attention and study.  If this were an easy course it would be offered between recess and your spelling test in 2^nd grade.  The responsibility of learning falls directly on your shoulders now, I’m here to help you but ultimately the responsibility is yours.  Don’t confuse understanding the material during class with actually understanding the material.  Remember that when we discuss these topics in class you have 20 other people helping out.  When you work on assignments and exams you don’t have that same luxury.  If you leave class thinking “that stuff is easy,” or “that was common sense” chances are you need to spend some time with it outside of class!  You will realize that there were parts that maybe you didn’t fully grasp.  Remember I probably won’t give you questions on exams the exact same way we saw them in class… you need to actually understand how the topic works to get it right.  That is different than understanding an example.

Macroeconomics 01, MWF 9:00am:

Curves assign; Due Wednesday, Sept. 5

Equilibrium assign; Due Monday, Sept. 10

Macroeconomics 02, TTh 9:30am:

Curves assign; Due Thursday, Sept. 6**  

Equilibrium assign; Due Tuesday, Sept. 11

Macroeconomics 03, TTh 12:30pm:

Curves assign; Due Thursday, Sept. 6**

Equilibrium assign; Due Tuesday, Sept. 11

** Sections 02 and 03, I strongly recommend turning in the Curves assign. early, or making time to stop by my office before you turn in the Equilibrium assign.

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Microeconomics 01, MWF 11:00am:

Elasticity assign 2; Due Friday, Sept. 7

Utility assign; Due Monday, Sept. 10