Rap videos, prestigious internship listings, and articles from students make up the new economics department’s website.
Assistant Professor of Economics Michael Clark created a department website to promote community and job opportunities to Hillsdale’s economics students, both current and former.
“I felt there was a demand, so we needed a supply,” Clark said.
Clark started the site in early December. Lecturer in Economics Lewis Butler helps Clark run the site.
“We’re being really nerdy about econ but having a little fun with it,” he said.
The title “Hillsdale Econ!” in all capital letters at the top of the page captures the feel and purpose of the site.
“My real goal is to help our current students and stay connected with former students,” Clark said.
Clark wants the community to build over time, so that in a few years there is a healthy network of economics graduates who can advise current students and help them find employment.
“I think it’s going to be nice to have a resource by which we can see what other Hillsdale econ students are doing,” said junior Kadeem Noray, economics major and vice president of Praxis, a campus political economy group. “It could be helpful for younger econ majors to see different avenues econ majors could take.”
Clark plans to post a couple of times a week. The site only costs $10 a year.
“We just try to be a resource for our students,” he said.
Clark is not beyond having some fun with the website. He posted a look-alike contest where people voted on who looked more alike: Clark and Nascar driver Carl Edwards or Professor of Political Economy Gary Wolfram and lead singer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers Anthony Kiedis.
“It does look a lot like him actually,” Clark said.
More serious posts include articles from students like junior and Praxis President Savannah Tibbetts. “Over the summer I got the opportunity to Skype this man who runs a think tank in Europe and a French-speaking blog in Africa,” Tibbetts said. “He knew that I was interested in development econ.”
Tibbetts wrote a post for that man, Emmanuel Martin, about specialty coffee bean growers in Rwanda.
“It was cool to see how his ideas were similar to mine about the free market and the hope that it provides to people in poverty,” Tibbetts said.
Like Noray, Tibbetts sees the potential for the new website.
“I hope to discuss it with the new Praxis officers and see how we can get more of a connection between the two sites,” she said.
Clark also uses Facebook and Twitter for the department. He is optimistic but uncertain about the future of the new site.
“I don’t expect this to be something that goes viral,” Clark said. “Just an extra step to build that community for our econ students, however small it may be.”
The quote at the top of the site’s homepage shows the casual, community-oriented nature of the website.
“It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our daily econ, but from the regard of the Hillsdale econ prof’s own self-interest,” the site reads.
You can visit the website at http://hillsdaleecon.com.
