ISU picked to participate in women in economics challenge

Posted on June 20, 2015

ISUQuad630By Joe Ragusa

NORMAL – Illinois State University has been selected to be part of a nationwide initiative to bring more women into the field of economics.

The Undergraduate Women in Economics Challenge is a three-year project that will implement strategies for women in introductory economics courses designed to encourage them to stay in the major.

David Cleeton, Department of Economics chair at ISU, said public institutions like ISU have issues bringing women to economics.

“It is typically at large, public universities that have a wide, wide range of choice of majors that you tend to find the lowest proportion of women to men (in economics),” Cleeton said.”

The ratio of men to women in economics majors is 3:1 nationally, but Cleeton said that ratio is 8:1 at Illinois State.

As part of the challenge spearheaded by a Harvard University professor and administered by the National Bureau of Economic Research, Illinois State will begin interventions in several sections of the Principles of Economics course this fall.

“The women in those sections, we’ll give them more advice, more information about potential careers, career paths, salary differentials across disciplines,” Cleeton said.

The program is funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Joe Ragusa can be reached at [email protected].

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