Two professors in the Robins School of Business have been recognized in a new study published by The American Economist for their contributions to the field of economic education.

UR economics professors KimMarie McGoldrick and Jonathan Wight were both among The Journal of Economic Education’s top 20 publishers.

The study analyzed research articles published since its first issue in 1969, identifying those who were key in developing economic education as a specialized field. For 50 years The Journal of Economic Education has been the premier forum for research that addresses teaching techniques, materials, and learning innovations in the field of economics.

“In recent years, the field of economic education has grown in stature and is receiving significant support from the American Economic Association,” said Dean Croushore, economics department chair. “The University of Richmond is fortunate to have such talented economic educators on our faculty.”

With 12 articles published, McGoldrick, a professor of economics who has taught at UR since 1992, ranked seventh among the journal’s top publishers. She is The Journal of Economic Education’s top female publisher and was the first woman to assume the journal’s lead co-editorial role. Of the top 200 contributors to the publication, only 35 are women. Wight ranked 20^th.  

McGoldrick has published on topics ranging from training graduate student teachers to the gender gap in economics degrees.

“Economic literacy is critical for a growing economy and research has shown that people who are exposed to economics make better financial decisions,” McGoldrick said. “But it is not enough to simply expose students to economics, I want students to share my passion for the discipline and understand how many interesting questions economic analysis can help answer."

That passion and dedication for the discipline goes beyond her publications with the Journal of Economic Education. McGoldrick has contributed more than 40 journal articles and edited four books and 18 book chapters — all in the field of economic education.

Moving forward, McGoldrick sees a need for economic education to evolve to better attract students to the discipline — tackling the difficult realities of the current underrepresentation of women and minorities in the field.

Working with the American Economic Association’s Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession, she has developed and facilitated mentoring workshops for untenured female faculty in non-Ph.D. granting economics departments. Most recently, she served as co-organizer and facilitator of the Expanding Diversity in Undergraduate Classes with Advancements in the Teaching of Economics program.

“This work is critically important as expanding diversity in economics will have an impact on the research questions and methods that become central to the discipline,” McGoldrick said.