Distinguished Professor of Economics Constantinos Christofides, Ph.D., Named Grand Marshal for Spring Undergraduate Commencement Exercises at ESU

Posted by: admin on May 14, 2013, No Comments

Distinguished Professor of Economics, Constantinos A. Christofides, Ph.D., will be the grand marshal for East Stroudsburg University’s undergraduate commencement exercises at 9:00 a.m. (College of Business and Management and College of Health Sciences) and 1:00 p.m. (College of Arts and Sciences and College of Education) on Saturday, May 18, 2013, in Koehler Fieldhouse. Dr. Christofides received a bachelor of science degree in economics from Rider College in N.J. and a master of science degree in business economics and a Ph.D. in economics from Lehigh University.

Christofides was hired in 1971 by ESU as an assistant professor to teach economics, which at the time was within the political science department. In 1973, ESU created a department of economics and Christofides was assigned the task of formulating a proposal for a new degree program—the bachelor of arts degree in economics—which was approved by the state. He was named associate professor in 1974 and full professor in 1981.

He helped to create the ESU Economics Club, which later became an economics/management club to include all majors. In 1989, he applied to the national office of Omicron Delta Epsilon (ODE) to create a chapter of the International Honor Society for Economics on campus, and it subsequently established Alpha Chi.

In 1996, Christofides encouraged the creation of E-News with help from Todd Behr, associate professor of economics and Pats Neelakantan, Ph.D., professor of economics, as a means of encouraging students to write on business and economic topics, and as a way of teaching them basic research skills. The newsletter has been a regular fixture at ESU since then, and has grown in popularity among students, staff, faculty and people in the community. The newsletter enjoys total readership of about 1,000, and it is issued twice a semester. In 1997, professors Christofides, Behr and Neelakantan formed the Business Economics Research Group (BERG) of ESU, partly as a result of their own personal interest in applied economic research, and partly in an effort to stimulate and encourage research among students at ESU. Christofides says BERG has given him a “second life” at ESU, since he has found colleagues who share his passion for research and publication. The research group has been very successful, receiving almost a quarter million dollars in grants since its inception, and completing research projects for the university, local economic planning groups, the state government, and some prestigious national organizations, such as the Brookings Institution and The National Education Association.

In 2005, Christofides was awarded East Stroudsburg University’s highest faculty honor, the Distinguished Professor Award, for his excellence in teaching business management and economics for over 35 years.

Dr. Christofides’ key collegiate assignments have included: chair-elect, Department of Business Management and Economics; search and screen committee chairman; evaluation committee chairman; promotions committee chairman; advising committee chairman; faculty adviser to the economics club and adviser to ODE, the International Honor Society in Economics.

Christofides wrote a study guide and test bank for Samuelson’s Managerial Economics, Dryden Press, 1992. He has also provided research guidance to numerous undergraduate students and took them to many annual undergraduate research conferences at Ursinus College in Pa. He has presented many scholarly articles, and refereed many papers at international, national, and regional economic conferences over the years. His other activities have included Center for Educational Opportunity advising.

He is a member of the American Economic Association, Omicron Delta Epsilon (International Honor Society in Economics), Association of University Business and Economic Research (AUBER), and the National Association for Business Economics (NABE).

Chrisofides resides in Pen Argyl, Pa.