Economics and Business Summer Newsletter | 2016

From the editor: 2015–16 was a productive year in the ECB Department at Gordon, and I look forward to sharing our news with you before we move ahead to a new school year. On May 21, we celebrated the graduation of 47 students from the ECB Department. Eight students majored in accounting, 35 in business administration, 10 in economics, 12 in finance and seven in international affairs (numbers do not add up due to our many double majors). Their diverse post-graduation plans will take them from Clark Associates in Lancas ter, PA, to CURE International in Lemoyne, PA (hey wait, Bruce and Josh are practically neighbors!), and from State Street in Boston (hi, Cassie!), to a mas ter’s program at Universität Hamburg in German y (congrats, Elle!). With deep sadness, I also share that Dr. Bruce Webb, Emeritus Professor of Economics, passed on to the Lord on November 9, 2015. He taught at Gordon from 1977 to 2009, and continued to work part- time for the College even while receiving treatment for cancer. His passing was announced on The Bell on November 10. We rejoice at so many facets of Prof. Webb’s long career at Gordon. He was among the founding members of the Association of Christian Economists in 1982, served as co-editor of the journal Faith & Economics for many years, and in 2013 he co-authored the book Human Flourishing: The Case for Economic Growth (American Enterprise Institute Press) with Prof. (L-R) Profs. Kristen Cooper, Kent Seibert, Stephen Smith, Stephen Smith and Edd Noell of Westmont College. He was also truly Douglas Puffert and Andy Moore gather after the 2016 Commencement ceremony. committed to the Christian liberal arts enterprise. He served on the College’s Core Committee for many years , and his Christian Teachings on the Economy course was a highlight of my time as a student in the ECB Department, as I’m sure it was for many of you. Prof. Webb was the recipient of the Distinguished Faculty Award in 2009, and you can read the remarks from his award here. You may also enjoy the lovely tribute that Prof. Stephen Smith wrote about Bruce in STILLPOINT. In the rest of the newsletter, we have more joyful news to share. The department is continuing to improve and expand its curriculum. And in every newsletter, I’m thankful to share about our engaging guest speakers, faculty activities, active student-led groups, internships and alumni accomplishments. As always, if you have an update or event you’d like to share, or if you know fellow alumni who would like to be added to the mailing list, we’d love to hear from you —please email me at [email protected].

With warm regards, Prof. Kristen Cooper Newsletter Editor

Department News

A Special Note from Prof. Stephen Smith Dear students in the Economics and Business Department, I write to share with you the news that I have accepted a position at Hope College (in Holland, MI) to begin this fall. My wife , Ann, and I arrived at Gordon in 1987 with the class of 1991, and now, after 29 years, we will finally graduate with the class of 2016. Gordon has been a wonderful place to teach and write and learn —and the privilege of working with you, current Gordon students and your predecessors over the years, is what has made it particularly wonderful. You can imagine, I'm sure, the mixed e motions with which Ann and I make this move. We love Gordon and all the good things that God is doing here. But we feel called to Hope to begin a new season in our lives, with new challenges and new opportunities to serve. The position there will tap my international, development and econometrics expertise, and experience with off-campus programs. The disruption in the ECB Department should be minimal. Your faculty (my great colleagues!) are working to adjust spring term course offerings and sections, and there are no fall term changes as I already was expected to be away for sabbatical. I take a lot of comfort in knowing that the ECB Department is in their excellent hands. Further, for my advisees who are not graduating yet, let me note that I will continue to work with you and serve as your advisor through the summer; you will have a new advisor, appointed by the department, fo r the fall. I look forward to staying in touch in the years ahead. It has been my great pleasure and privilege to work with each an d every one of you, from first year student to senior advisee, and I pray God's blessing on us all as I join the class of 2016 in moving into "life after Gordon." Grat efu lly , Prof. Smith April 9, 2016

Curriculum Enrichments and New Websites The ECB faculty is pleased to share several new developments in our curriculum. As part of a college-wide web update, we also have new material on our web pages—check out the new major descriptions and alumni features in the links below. Business Administration: New Concentrations in Mark eting and Manag ement In addition to the International Business Concentration, students in the Business Administration Major will now have the opportunity to choose either a Management Concentration or a Marketing Concentration. Finance: New Courses Offered Two new courses have recently been introduced in the Finance Major. ECB356 Personal Financial Planning is a new elective, and ECB355 Risk Management and Insurance will be a required course for the major. The total size of the major will be unchanged, since International Economics will now be among the major electives rather than a requirement. Ec onomi c s : Emphas i s on Empi r i c al Tr ai ni ng The Economics Major will soon require an upper-level course that prepares students for data analysis and applied research. In ECB313 Econometrics , students will learn the statistical theory and basic software skills that are required for empirical research in economics. Historically, most economics majors have already chosen this course as an elective. The capstone of the course is an original piece of empirical research, conducted using STATA software. Las t fall, student research topics included the crime rate-prison population relationship and the beef demand-carbon emissions relationship. The size of the major is unchanged since we will require econometrics plus 8 elective credits in place of 12 elective credits in economics. Accounting: Continues to Rock The Accounting Major has been adjusted in recent years to provide a pathway for students to earn the 150 credit hours required to sit for the CPA exam.

Happenings: Recap

ECB Award Winners at Spring 2016 Honors Convocation Six students from the ECB Department were recognized for their accomplishments at this year’s Spring Honors Convocation. Pictured left to right in the photo between Prof. Kent Seibert and Prof. Stephen Smith are: Jaehyun (John) Lim ’17, who received the Buettner-Edmondson Bus iness Leader Scholarship Award; Zach Hall ’16, who won the Economics and Business Leadership Award; Chan -Mi Kim ’16, who won the Distinguished Business Administration Student Award; Peter Kovacevic ’16, who won the Distinguished Finance Student Award; Hannah VanderLaan ’16, who won the Social Science Achievement Award; and Josh Hill ’16, who won the Distinguished Economics Student Award.

Economics and Business Organization (EBO) Club | Nathanael Lee ’17 With leadership from Emily David ’16, Anthony Kim ’16, Nathanael Lee ’17 and Chan Yoon ’17, EBO had a busy year. EBO aims to offer two treks per year for current students to network with alumni and employers in major cities. This year’s trips were to New York City and Washington, D.C. The 14 students who attended each trip had quite the whirlwind as they met six alumni in two days in NYC and nine alumni in three days in D.C. Their destinations included Bloomberg, Madison Square Garden and Go lu b Cap it al in NYC, and the American Enterprise Institute, Center for Public Justice, U.S. Congress, Institute of International Education and USDA in D.C. EBO’s on-campus seminars this year featured guest speakers Chris Mann (CPA, CFP) and Nick Shultz ’09 (CFP). Several Gordon College faculty and Executive Cabinet members also shared their wisdom: Paul Edwards (VP o f Dev elo p men t ), Mike Ahearn (VP of Finance), Rick Sweeney (VP o f Co mmu n icat io n ), Carter Crockett (Director of the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership) and Kent Seibert (Professor of Management, ECB Department Chair). EBO also offered a personal finance workshop featuring Citizens Bank representatives. EBO students on the Washington, D.C trek

Current students are welcome to participate in EBO next year. And alumni—we would love your help. The next NYC trek is coming up in November, and we plan to return to Washington, D.C. next spring (2017). We are looking for alumni to meet on these treks and would also welcome guest speakers who are residents or visitors in the Boston area! To get involved or learn more about EBO, contact us by email or look for our table at Homecoming and the Scottie Faire .

EBO students on the New York City trek

Gordon College Investment Club | David Giordano ’17

This past school year, the Gordon College Investment Club furthered its goal of promoting broader and more in-depth investing knowledge among the student body. More specifically, the club brought in an array of guest speakers, including a handful of Gordon alumni with careers in the financial services industry. In addition, the club hosted a st ock market simulation competition. Charlie Mitchell ‘17 won the stock market competition with a portfolio return of 9.5 percent. Next year, members of the Investment Club hope to start a student-led investment portfolio. Any students or alumni who are interested in getting involved should feel free to email [email protected].

Environmental Economics Service-Learning Project | Prof. Kristen Cooper In ECB307 Environmental Economics this spring, students participated in a class project called “Economic Analysis of Policies to Decrease Dog Waste in Chebacco Woods.” The project was one of three Chebacco Woods-related projects that took place at Gordon this spring as part of the Campus Environmental Stewardship program, which was funded by the Davis Foundation through the nonprofit organization Massachusetts Campus Compact. As students and alumni know, the 400+ preserved acres abutting Gordon College, known as Chebacco Woods, offers excellent outdoor recreational opportunities, and Gull Pond is a popular destination for fishing, swimming and boating. The Woods’ forests, ponds and wetlands are also an important local habitat with additional economic value from ecosystem services and local water supply. Unfortunately, the proximity of the Woods to human activity poses potential threats to biodiversity, recreational value and water quality. In the environmental economics project, we focused on the market failure associated with people not picking up dog waste, an issue which has been discussed The environmental economics class walked in the Chebacco recently in several local towns. Our project analyzed potential policy Woods in March, exploring the trails and picking up litter solutions to decrease the quantity of uncollected dog waste in the Woods along the way. (Photo taken by Eric Walker.) and improve environmental quality. We discussed the effectiveness and limitations of current policies related to dog walking, including leash policies, fines for off-leash walking and fines for waste. Students also did research on the costs and benefits of alternative policies, such as placing a cap on the number of dogs per dog walker (to discourage commercial dog walking) or requiring DNA testing for local dogs so uncollected waste can be traced by dog. In determining the costs and benefits of these alternative policies, students investigated the policies’ effects on commercial dog walking activity, non-commercial dog walking activity, water quality and other use values of the Woods, in economic terms. The students presented their results in a poster at Go rd o n ’s Undergraduate Research Symposium and in a presentation with the other three class projects.

David Gill’s ECB-Sponsored Lecture on Business Ethics | Prof. Douglas Puffert On April 26, the Economics and Business Department hosted Gordon-Conwell professor David Gill for a presentation titled “Ten Principles for Highly Ethical Managers and Economists.” Gill suggested that the biblical Ten Commandments offer a useful template for how leaders and organizations should relate to their employees (or members) as well as their clients. Because God created all people in his image, Gill said, people should be treated in ways analogous to the ways that God wants to be treated: Leaders should value people as unique, valuable, irreplaceable individuals. Leaders should nurture people in their growth and developmen t. Leaders should communicate with others respectfully, by name. People should be given opportunities both to work and to relax, so that workers are recognized as worthy “ends” for an organization, not just as means to its ends. Leaders should honor people ’s families and friends. According to Gill, his perspective has found resonance even with non -religious consulting clients and seminar participants. Gill ret ired in M ay from his appointment as the Mockler-Phillips Professor of Workplace Theology and Business Ethics at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He plans to continue writing and consulting for both nonprofit organizations and profit-oriented businesses. He promotes his ideas at a website, www.ethixbiz.com.

Internship Corner

Many ECB students have recently completed internships, both paid and for-credit. Here are some of their stories.

Ryan Daly ’16

Charlie Mitchell ’17 Over last summer and winter break, I had the opportunity to intern at Andrew Asgar CPA, a public accounting firm in Rockland County, N.Y. It was a great experience that helped This spring I had the opportunity to intern at the Public Company solidify my interest in public tax accounting, and led me to my Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) in Washington, D.C. The current position at the firm as a junior accountant. The firm PCAOB is a nonprofit corporation established by Congress specializes in providing tax and accounting services for through the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in 2002. The mission of the individuals and businesses in the NYC metro area. The PCAOB is to oversee the audits of public companies in order to opportunity to intern at a small public accounting firm gave me a protect investors and the public interest by promoting lot of great exposure to a wide variety of industries and various informative, accurate and independent audit reports. I worked as a tax issues, greatly expanding my understanding of taxes, Risk Analysis Intern in the Office of Research and Analysis, accounting and business. which analyses risks affecting public accounting firms and researches risks to audit quality to inform policy options that Through my job as an intern, I performed bank reconciliations for support its goals and objectives. My main responsibility was to various small businesses, and helped clients maintain, update and support an analyst by researching SEC filings and determine risks improve their accounting systems. I also assisted in the that could reduce earnings quality. My role with the PCAOB preparation and filing of various federal and state payroll and enabled me to improve my ability to analyze financial statements business taxes, and completed several tax registrations. I learned and related disclosures. how to incorporate new entities with various states and completed S-Corp elections at the state and federal level. I also I was able to use classroom concepts in a real-world setting that drafted letters to government agencies on behalf of clients had actual regulatory implications. In addition to this, living on pertaining to tax registrations, various requests and general Capitol Hill and working in downtown D.C. exposed me to a inquiries. unique environment and political climate. It was a memorable experience working with these business professionals and I look My supervisors and co-workers in the firm are all excellent forward to using what I learned in the future. I aim to work in the professionals, and really invested in me, teaching me various investment management field, and working at the PCAOB improved accounting practices and pushing me to expand my skill set every my research skills and helped me to be able to identify different risks day. Having completed my time as an intern, I came to appreciate to a company's financial statements and overall business model. the opportunities that a local public accounting firm can provide: a fast-paced environment where you are constantly learning new skills, being exposed to interesting and challenging situations, and working for interesting clients across many industries.

LIVES WORTH LEADING® 255 Grapevine Road, Wenham MA 01984-1899 www.gordon.edu/academics/economics

Victoria Yasharian ’16 semester, and they offered me a management position at the end of my internship! This was an answer to prayer. I had a crazy time trying to find an internship in the hospitality I was also blessed to work under the owner and manager who are industry! Shortly before the spring Christians . I was able to be open about prayer and my faith. One deadline to register for classes, of the aspects of the job I mos t appreciated (among many) was God provided an opportunity for the way the owner and manager chose to provide an extra detail me to intern at La Piece, an event for each event, which was not included in clients’ contracts, but venue in New Hampshire. I was made the events that much more…WOW. The owner explained thrilled (and I could finally to me that this was her way of blessing the brides and grooms. exercise my creativity)! I worked Many people have commented about La Piece, “Yo u are really alongside the manager and owner, personable here.” Although we didn’t hand out Bibles or who walked me through the process of giving tours, preparing advertise we were Christians, our actions spoke for us. There paperwork, designing an event, creating unique floral have been dramatic, positive behavioral and attitude changes in arrangements, sending emails and doing office tasks, and most family of brides and grooms, catering staff and clients themselves importantly, understanding the art of customer service—it’s all who have interacted with us. about the details. I worked at their events throughout the

Alumni and other ECB friends, if you are aware of internship opportunities at your business or organization, please contact Career Services or any of our department faculty members. Yo u r assistance in helping our students find jobs and internships is invaluable!

Alumni Highlights

Four ECB graduates are featured in the “Hear from a grad” section of our new major web pages! (Click majors to read more.) Accounting Economics

Jonathan Benson ’08 Austin Drukker ’15 Manager, KPMG State and Local Tax Research Assistant, The Brookings Institution

Business Administration Finance

Logan Robertson ’04 Blake Berkey ’12 Audit Manager, Kevin P. Martin & Associates, P.C. Summer Associate, Latham & Watkins LLP Law Student, University of Virginia LIVES WORTH LEADING® 255 Grapevine Road, Wenham MA 01984-1899 www.gordon.edu/academics/economics