UMass Econ in the News

Robin Kemkes

Robin Kemkes, an economics Ph.D. student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, has received a prestigious Advanced Research Fellowship from the American Councils Title VIII Combined Research and Language Training Program, which supports research in the independent states of the former Soviet Union.  The award is funded by the U.S. Department of State, Title VIII Program for Research and Training on Eastern Europe and Eurasia (Independent States of the Former Soviet Union).  Former Soviet Republics Georgia and Russia went to war in summer 2008 over a breakaway region.

Robin’s doctoral research focuses on equitable and sustainable rural development in the Upper Svaneti region in the former Soviet state of Georgia. The Advanced Research Fellowship will fund fieldwork and advanced study of the Georgian language over a six month period in summer and fall of 2011.  

“Georgia, and Upper Svaneti in particular, are fascinating places. I look forward to working with my research partners there to identify rural development paths that will sustain its rich cultural heritage and diverse natural landscape,” noted Robin. “The United States is invested in Georgia’s future, and it is important that development paths support ethnic stability in its rural regions.”

Kemkes participates in the Environmental Working Group based at the Political Economy Research Institute and led by UMass Amherst Professors James K. Boyce and Michael Ash. Ash said, “Robin has developed a fascinating project, and her selection demonstrates increased attention to questions of environmental and cultural sustainability in economic development.”

Robin already holds a master’s degree in ecological economics (University of Vermont 2008).  She has also received a Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) fellowship for the Summer Workshop in Slavic and East European Languages (SWSEEL) at Indiana University where she studied the Georgian language intensively for eight weeks in summer 2010.

More than 6,000 students, scholars, and researchers have participated in American Councils programs overseas since 1976.  Its activity includes partnership affiliations with many Eurasian institutes and support for U.S. scholars in the former Soviet Union. Research funded by American Councils must “contribute to a body of knowledge enabling the U.S. to better understand the region and formulate effective policies within it.”

Hwok-Aun Lee, a UMass Amherst doctoral student in economics, writes a column supporting the idea of establishing a minimum wage in Malaysia. The column responds to two previous pieces that opposed the idea. (Aliran.com, 6/28/10)

Bilge Erten, a graduate student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, has been selected as a National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Scholar from a national applicant pool to attend one of 21 summer study opportunities supported by NEH.

The Endowment is a federal agency that each summer supports seminars and institutes at colleges and universities so that teachers can work in collaboration and study with experts in the humanities and related disciplines.

Erten will participate in an institute entitled “Teaching the History of Political Economy.”  The three-week program, which begins June 6, will be held at Duke University and directed by Dr. Bruce Caldwell, Professor of Economics and Director of the Center for the History of Political Economy at Duke. 

As one of only 25 selected scholars, Bilge Erten will explore the ideas of great economic thinkers.

More information about the Institute is available online at the Center for the History of Political Economy Web site, http://econ.duke.edu/HOPE/.