Archive for the ‘Katzner’ Category

Katzner to deliver Distinguished Faculty Lecture

Friday, October 7th, 2011

Donald Katzner

Professor Donald Katzner will be delivering a Distinguished Faculty Lecture on Wednesday, October 19 at 4:00 p.m. in the Bernie Dallas Room, Goodell Building. His talk, UMass Amherst’s Radical Revolution in Economics, 1965-1981, will describe how a significant, visible group of Marxian economists replaced their traditional counterparts in the UMass Amherst Economics Department and how the resulting turmoil eventually resolved itself into an intellectually exciting, friendly, and productive atmosphere with lasting implications for academic endeavor and a profound legacy for the economics profession. The talk is based on his new book, At the Edge of Camelot: Debating Economics in Turbulent Times (Oxford University Press, 2011).

The Distinguished Faculty Lecture Series celebrates the value of academic excellence and recognizes the distinguished achievements of faculty. Those chosen for the series also receive the Chancellor’s Medal, the highest honor bestowed to faculty by the campus. The lecture is sponsored by the Office of the Chancellor and the Office of the Provost. For event details, please click here.

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Katzner’s book to be published by Oxford University Press

Tuesday, April 6th, 2010

Don Katzner, UMass Amherst Economics Professor

Oxford University Press will publish Don Katzner’s, To the Edge of Camelot: A History of the Economics Department at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, 1965-1981.  The book is expected to appear towards the end of 2011.

The book covers the period of time in which the Economics Department first rose from obscurity to become, for a brief moment, a significant, traditionally oriented department with a future Nobel Laureate and a future President of the University of Chicago.

But, very quickly, this highly visible faculty dissolved and was replaced, also very quickly, by an even more visible group of radical political economists. Contrary to what one might have expected, the latter replacement took place at a public university during the height of the Cold War when the fear of communism and the Soviet Union was palpable throughout the country. It also added to the tensions that had been present in the department since the years of traditional orientation. These tensions were subsequently overcome, however, and the atmosphere in the Economics Department evolved into an exciting, stimulating and interesting intellectual environment.

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Three UMass Giants Discuss Econ’s Past and Future

Tuesday, October 6th, 2009

In a panel discussion entitled “History of the UMass Economics Department and the Future of Radical Economics,” Professors Donald Katzner and Stephen Resnick and Professor Emeritus Samuel Bowles mixed personal reminiscence and economic analysis to describe the department’s trajectory over the past 40 years.  UMass has broken important ground, but challenges remain for the next generation of UMass-trained economists.

l. to r. Resnick, Bowles, and Katzner

l. to r. Resnick, Bowles, and Katzner

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