March 12, 2018

Michelle Vachris, professor of economics at Wesleyan University, will deliver a lecture, titled Pride and Profit: The Intersection of Adam Smith and Jane Austen, at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 28.

The event will be held in Faylor Hall, located in Fisher Hall. The event is free and open to the public.

Vachris will discuss the intersection of economic concepts and popular novels. Previously, she was an economist with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) in the International Price Program, where she worked on export and import price indexes and purchasing power parities. Vachris has since served as a consultant on international statistics for the BLS and the International Monetary Fund.

Vachris is a past president and distinguished fellow of the Virginia Association of Economists and co-editor of the Virginia Economic Journal. Her publications include articles and book chapters on public choice economics, teaching pedagogy, and economics in literature. Her latest publication is Pride and Profit: the Intersection of Jane Austen and Adam Smith, co-authored with Cecil E. Bohanon. She earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from the College of William and Mary and a master’s degree and Ph.D. in economics from George Mason University.

The lecture is presented by Susquehanna’s newly established Center for Economics, Business and Entrepreneurship Education, which assists teachers in bringing economic and business education into K-12 classrooms in the region. Housed in the Sigmund Weis School of Business, the center serves the community by hosting workshops for educators on how to help school-age students learn about economics, entrepreneurship and business. In addition to her lecture, Vachris will host a workshop for teachers.

The Center for Economics, Business and Entrepreneurship Education is affiliated with the national Council for Economic Education, the leading nonprofit organization in the United States that is focused on personal finance, business and economics education.