MSU to offer new graduate specialization

MSU graduate students interested in both education and economics won’t have to choose between passions anymore because of a new interdisciplinary program combining the two, set to start in the fall.

The interdisciplinary program includes faculty from the College of Education, Department of Economics and the School of Labor and Industrial Relations.

Program co-director Robert Floden, associate dean of research for the College of Education, said about eight students who already had been accepted to MSU would be admitted to the specialization this fall.

A $5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education will pay for their tuition and for $30,000 stipends, which Floden said are higher than average.

“Over the last decade people in economics have played an increased role in education,” he said.

Economics assistant professor Todd Elder said the interdisciplinary program will bring together faculty and students who might not have known they were working on the same project.

“We want (students) to have sort of a broader perspective,” he said.

“They’ll be prepared to be professors (or researchers) in a lot of different contexts.”

Co-director Jeffrey Wooldridge, an economics professor, said economists have researched topics such as whether increasing school funding translates into higher student achievement, how to measure teacher quality and how charter schools affect school quality.

Generally they follow data about a set of students over time.

“In this way, we can see how spending changes at schools or districts over time affect changes in performance,” he said in an e-mail. “We can learn more by having at least some history of spending and performance for a large group of schools.”

The specialization was announced Monday and has no applicants so far, Floden said. Next year the faculty will recruit students nationwide.

Floden said students in the specialization would take two new interdisciplinary classes and participate in a not-for-credit seminar. The rest of their courses would come from their doctoral program.

“We’re not expecting (the specialization) to substantially increase the time it takes them to get their degree,” he said.

Students also would work with a faculty researcher and get help finding internships in educational research.

The grant will last five years. Floden said the specialization will be permanent, and he and Wooldridge will try to renew the grant so they can keep offering scholarships.

Economics associate professor Stacy Dickert-Conlin said the specialization will be successful if students write better dissertations than before and get jobs after graduation.

“Whether it’s successful (depends on) whether we can tap into the skills of both departments,” she said.

“We’d like to get a reputation as a place that trains students well and therefore places them well.”