With 679 undergraduate and 108 graduate students, the economics department is one of the largest departments in the College. According to department chair William Johnson, it is also one of the oldest.
"When Jefferson founded the University, he planned to have 10 professors in each of the pavilions and one of these professors was of economics -- George Tucker," Johnson said. "But the James Wilson School of Economics came into being after receiving around $500,000 dollars from Andrew Carnegie in the early 20th century."
Johnson added that the popularity of the economics major is more of a recent event.
"Economics has always been an important major, but I believe that its popularity has increased in the past few decades," Johnson said. "It's pretty clear that students are more concerned about jobs, and they perceive economics as a major that will get them a good job."
Fourth-year College student Lexie Humiston said she didn't find career opportunities presented through the economics major to be the main purpose of the major.
"Of course there are many jobs available in the finance sector for an economics major, but it's actually geared more for learning-oriented students, unlike the [Commerce]. School which is more for career-oriented people," Humiston said.
Johnson said it was crucial to understand the differences between the studies of economics and commerce.
"It is important to understand that the Comm. School is a professional school, training people more oriented towards training job-related skills," Johnson said. "We approach things as an academic subject, not as a profession."
Johnson also pointed out that the subject of economics was not limited to finance and commerce.
"Economists like to talk about thinking like an economist, which is an incredibly valuable skill, a way of very rationally looking at the world and analyzing causes and effects and likely consequences of actions," Johnson said. "It is an imperialistic discipline where it is possible to apply economic tools to problems in law and political science or, to a lesser extent, sociology. It's not as much about learning what the Federal Reserve does as people tend to think."
Fourth-year Commerce student Edgar Fernandez, who is also an economics minor, said he found the department to be extremely resourceful despite its purely academic focus.
"I think one of the great things about the econ. department is that they are really good at sending out information about job and research opportunities," Fernandez said. "Whenever I get an e-mail about jobs from the Comm. School, I also get it from the econ. department as well."
Fernandez said he found the faculty to be another strong asset of the department.
"The fact that the introductory classes are huge doesn't bother you that much because the professors teaching it, like [Kenneth] Elzinga, are capable of handling a class that big," Fernandez said.
Humiston said she found the range of classes, as well as their availability, to be satisfactory.
"Once you are done with the first four classes, which are the intro and intermediate micro- and macroeconomics classes, you are left with many different practical applications of economics," Humiston said. "And with more advanced classes, I've never been turned down. But even if you were, there are plenty of other interesting classes"
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