Economics Alumni

Here are some career stories from economics graduates. These are the type of students you’ll be studying with!

Andrew Martin (2003)

Andrew Martin is in his fourth year of graduate studies at the Agricultural and Resource Economics Dept. at the University of Maryland, where he focuses primarily on agricultural land and production issues both in the US and the developing world. In addition, he has studied farm runoff programs affecting the Chesapeake Bay and its attached watershed, farmland price changes in the East and Midwest, issues involving Community Supported Agriculture agreements, and rainfall insurance issues in Africa. He hopes to finish his Ph.D. dissertation within the next two years.

Matt Gnagey (2005)

Matt spent three years with Mennonite Central Committee in Aceh, Indonesia following the 2004 tsunami , where he worked with two local partners funded by MCC, implementing small-scale rural livelihood programs. These programs included reconstructing infrastructure, working with women’s groups on microcredit opportunities, organizing irrigation and water management systems, and providing start-up supplies for fisherman and farmers. While there, he lived in a small, isolated village providing opportunities to develop close relationships with neighbors and co-workers and engage Islam and Acehnese culture

In September 2009 he enrolled in Ohio State University’s Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics Ph.D. program. He was awarded Ohio State University’s most prestigious graduate fellowship, the Susan L. Huntington Dean’s Distinguished University Fellowship

Lindsay Martin (2005)

Immediately after graduating Lindsay worked for two years in Oakland, California as a nonviolence educator and non-profit office manager, through Mennonite Voluntary Service. In 2010 she finished law school at the University of Pennsylvania, where she was a Toll Public Interest Scholar, and plans to work as a public defender after graduation.

She hopes to make a difference by ensuring that each client receives fair treatment in the court system. Her longer-term goal is to work for criminal justice reform, seeking policies that will to move the system toward a more restorative, rather than retributive, approach.

Rachel Miller (2004)

Following graduation, Rachel served with Mennonite Central Committee in a rural village in Bolivia, working to empower local community and women’s groups, and promoting economic development through a regional beekeeping collective. From 2006-2008, she worked for Forest Trends, an international environmental non-profit organization, on a program to connect indigenous peoples and rural communities to information and strategies that preserve environmental landscapes while also enhancing social and economic conditions in the area. Her work also evaluated the impacts of national and international environmental policies and treaties on indigenous peoples and rural communities.

During the summer of 2008, Rachel conducted research on socioeconomic conditions in the West Bank while working for the Applied Research Institute in Bethlehem. She is currently enrolled in a master’s program at the University of Notre Dame in International Peace Studies with a concentration in Political Economy. Rachel will spend June-December of this year working for the Uganda Land Alliance while carrying out research on post-war economic reconstruction efforts as part of her master’s program.

Benjamin Stauffer (2001)

Benjamin majored in Business Administration and Economics, with a minor in Economic Development. Following graduation, he volunteered with Mennonite Central Committee in Northeast Brazil to work with agriculture and rural development. He worked for three years with local organizations to develop water resources for family use by building cisterns and wells.

Following his work in Brazil, Benjamin returned to live in northern New York, joining his parents and brother in managing their dairy farm. He became a partner the following year and currently specializes in managing the crops and coordinating the 21 employees. They farm 2,500 acres of cropland, milk 750 cows and raise 700 young-stock. The business is in the midst of an expansion project to nearly double their herd size to 1,200 milking cows.

Doug Wrenn (2002)

Doug with a double major in Business Administration and Economics. During his senior year he decided to continue studying economics at the graduate level. However, he first decided to gain experience and perspective by working abroad]. In that fall he was placed with Mennonite Central Committee Ukraine on a three-year assignment doing economic development work in rural Ukraine and Russia. His work consisted primarily of two tasks: 1) Helping members of the local church communities establish revolving lines of credit (funds) to help members start small businesses and 2) Advising rural farmers on ways to improve their operations and managerial techniques and increase efficiency.

Doug states that his work with MCC in rural development helped focus his interests and he decided to pursue an advanced degree in development economics. During his final year with MCC he took a number of advanced mathematics courses submitting applications to various Ph.D. programs in agricultural and applied Economics. He was accepted and is currently working on a Ph.D. in Agricultural, Development and Environmental Economics at the Ohio State University. He has completed the MA in economics and is currently beginning his dissertation . His current research is environmental in nature and examines the impact of human decision-making over time and its effect on land use change, land use patterns, and ultimately the environment in a growing metropolitan region. He hopes to pursue a combination of research and teaching upon completion of his degree.

Aerlande Petros (2006)

Soon after graduation from EMU, Aerlande moved to Washington DC and began working for a housing agency that operated an HIV/AIDS program that provided short-term financial assistance and long-term term housing for agency clients. Through this process she was able focus her interests in economic development and decided to study public health, believing that health is a key component of economic development

She attended Saint Louis University, and worked as a research assistant while completing her Master’s in Public Health. She worked on a project to help improve cardiovascular health in an African American community in the Bootheel (southeast) of Missouri by creating community gardens. However, in order to address that goal she reports first needing to support the area’s fruit and vegetable markets, and employment opportunities for community members. She believes sustainable economic development requires a healthy population and this drives her passion for doing this type of public health work. .

Christopher Onyango-Robshaw (2002)

Christopher is currently Controller for Eden Prairie School District, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Prior to that, he served as Finance Director at BlueSky Charter School.Christopher and his wife Melissa live in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They recently completed an international adoption and welcomed home two teenagers, Franklin and Vina, who are adapting to their new surroundings and attending school. Their youngest daughter, Olivia, is learning to walk. Christopher enjoys traveling with his family and learning to play the clarinet.