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ABSTRACT
In this article, the authors describe the Miller Upton Programs launched by the Beloit College Department of Economics in 2008. The programs aim to advance student understanding of the nature and causes of wealth and well-being. After describing the programs’ core elements, the authors discuss ways in which they leverage economic discourse as a means to advance liberal learning. They argue that programs of this kind advance liberal learning by cultivating skills required to engage the great questions of human flourishing, by fostering development of students’ economic imagination and by enhancing students’ ability to engage in genuine intellectual discovery. Details on the history and resource commitments for various program aspects are provided, allowing readers to identify program elements appropriate for replication at their home institutions.
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Notes
1. There are two further features associated with the Miller Upton Programs, one of which predates the Programs (Econ Day) and the other which has developed since 2008 (the endowed internship awards).
2. As a board member of the Foundation for Economic Education, President Upton understood that economics plays a critical role in cultivating the liberally educated mind.
3. Every spring, the department organizes a day-long event in Chicago (Econ Day) for current majors. The trip includes a morning visit to a company with which we have an alumni connection (e.g., Groupon, Legacy.com, Chicago Mercantile Exchange). In the afternoon, two panel discussions are held at the University of Chicago's Gleacher Center. The first panel features senior alumni who lend their insight on how their industries relate to “the great questions” students are considering in their classes. The second panel typically features junior alumni, who provide basic job and career advice. After the panel discussions, the students and panelists meet approximately 50 additional alumni for a structured networking session followed by hors d'oeuvres and libations.
4. The fact that the gift was for a fixed number of years made the request for the foundation easier to accommodate, as few major foundations give to endowments.
5. Further, the return of alumni panelists offers students valuable networking opportunities, and reconnects those alumni who are distant and/or have been disengaged from the campus.
6. When the research shows promise, students will often continue working on the paper in the spring term as part of the student research colloquium (discussed in greater detail below) or as part of the College's annual Student Symposium. A few students per year produce research that is eventually worthy of publication in some form.
7. The research colloquium depends on annual external funding, and the availability of a faculty member willing and able to lead the program.
8. Although we do not explicitly discuss multiculturalism and liberal education, the emphasis on understanding different perspectives certainly can be tied to an argument about how liberal learning and civil discourse help individuals to navigate interactions with increasingly diverse populations (Aleman and Salkever Citation2003; Nussbaum Citation1997).
9. Elliott, Meisel, and Richards Citation(1998) noted that the honors thesis may not be appropriate for all students or all institutions, and they outline a variation of the thesis project in which students research Nobel laureates and tie their contributions to objectives of generation education.
10. As Ehrenberg Citation(2005) noted, this type of activity also may spur an interest in graduate-level study. Over a dozen papers that have emerged from the senior seminar and research colloquium have been published or are currently under review (see, e.g., Nencka Citation2011; Williams and Hall Citation2015; Tarabar and Hall Citation2016). The number of students who go on to pursue graduate degrees in fields related to a particular year's senior seminar (economics, health policy, environmental studies, political science) has been growing and seems tied to the research colloquium, although the influence of the Great Recession makes it difficult to know with certainty.
11. In the first years of the Upton Forum, we did provide alumni with honoraria, but we found that they either did not take the money, or they donated it back to the program. Two alumni supporters noted that the true payment was the honor of an invitation.