Two SMU Economics alumni have received prestigious Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship awards for the 2024-2025 academic year. The two Economics winners are Colton Fontenot, who will travel to the Slovak Republic and Victoria Romanczyk, who will go to Poland.

Colton (Cole) Fontenot graduated in May 2022 with a B.A. in economics, history, philosophy, and public policy and achieved the rare feat of completing three distinction theses during his senior year. Eager to learn more about educational systems in other countries, the Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship in the Slovak Republic will support Cole’s long-term goal of crafting more equitable education policy in the United States.

Victoria Romanczyk graduated in May with a B.S. in economics and statistical science and a B.A. in international studies.  She will teach not just Polish students, but students from all over the EU.  Victoria said that “this is a dream come true and for any upcoming seniors who are thinking about taking on a gap year or who are interested in seeing what it is like to live, work, or do research abroad I would definitely recommend looking into Fulbright programs.”

Congratulations Cole and Victoria!  We wish you the best of luck!

On April 23rd, the Department hosted the spring awards luncheon.  Omicron Delta Epsilon (ODE) inductees as well as departmental award winners were recognized for their accomplishments.

Enrique Martínez García, an economic policy advisor at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, provided a talk on “Where Do Post-COVID Housing Markets Stand? A Shifting Outlook for Global Real Estate”.

Congratulations to all of our inductees and award winners!  Keep up the good work!

Dr. Ahlberg has been chosen to receive the Barbara and James Mangum Teaching Award in recognition of her extraordinary student engagement. Her dedication to teaching, including her work in redesigning principles courses and creating new undergraduate electives, is appreciated by the department and cherished by students.

Distinguished alum and private investor Charles Mangum gave a million dollar gift to SMU for two teaching awards – one in Economics and the other in Accounting, the two disciplines that (according to him) offered the most challenging courses in his undergraduate curriculum at SMU. The award is intended to “promote and reward the art of teaching”. The criteria for the award is that the recipient be non-tenured and extraordinary at student involvement. The award itself is named after his parents Barbara and James Mangum who live in New Orleans.

Charles Mangum graduated from SMU 1986 with a BA in Economics and a BBA in Finance. He earned an MBA from the University of Chicago in 1990 and has had a highly successful career in investment and portfolio management.