Fall Registration 09

August 27th , 2009

Hello, and welcome back. All of us who are part of the Economics Department’s undergraduate program hope that you had an enjoyable and productive summer and that you’re now ready for another year at Harvard.

I look forward to serving again this year as the department’s Director of Undergraduate Studies. This will be my third year in this position. I will again work closely with Emily Neill, our Undergraduate Program Administrator, and with our concentration advisors who can be found here: http://www.economics.harvard.edu/undergrad/advising
Each economics concentrator has an assigned advisor. You will hear from your advisor shortly by email. You should get to know your advisor and see him or her as needed during the school year. The department asks all senior concentrators to have an extended conversation with their individual advisors during the fall semester, and all concentrators-to-be to meet with the econ advisor associated with your house as you prepare your Plan of Study. You should feel free to consult me directly with any questions about your program or the department in general. You are also encouraged to speak with any of our advisors during walk-in office hours in Littauer 111, though you should view your assigned advisor as your primary contact with the concentration.

We are sorry to report that, due to financial constraints generated by the financial crisis, we will not be able to offer the department’s program of faculty-led junior seminars this year. We hope to rescucitate this program in future years, but at this point we cannot make any commitments along those lines. As a partial attempt to rememdy this unfortunate situation, we are planning a series of presentations from faculty about their research and the research process in the Spring directed at Juniors who are considering the senior thesis. You will hear more about these presentations mid-term.

Sophomores – though concentration declaration does not take place until Nov 18th, we wanted to let you know that this year we are offering the Sophomore tutorial (Ec 970) in the Fall as well as the Spring term. Since tutorials assume an intermediate theory background (at least 1010a) and a stats background, fall sections are particularly geared towards those students who went directly into the 1010 series as freshman. The introductory session is the first day of classes, September 2, at 2:00pm in Emerson 105. Sectioning takes place in the days following. For more details, see the 970 isite: http://my.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k62596
Juniors - For those thinking about writing a thesis in their senior year, we will be holding a Fall term thesis meeting to get you started in the process (November 4th at 4:00pm in Science Center B). This meeting will focus on strategies for finding a good advisor, developing plans for research including acquiring funding for summer study, and general approaches to honing your researching skills and finding a good topic.
Seniors – there is a mandatory meeting for all thesis writers September 8th at 4:00pm in Science Center C where you will register for your 985 thesis seminars. Thesis seminars meet for the first time the week of september 14th. ALL SENIORS will have a meeting with their assigned Econ Advisor in the fall to check on your progress/plans for meeting concentration requirements for graduation. At this meeting you will also declare whether you are Basic, ACT, or Thesis track. For those on the ACT or Thesis track, this formal declaration registers you for the honors exam that you must take to complete requirements (offered this year on April 7th). Your advisor will be in touch to schedule this meeting.

New ourse offerings in the department: Ec 1776 Religion and the Rise of Capitalism, offered by Ben Friedman (Fall). This course, when taken for a letter grade, meets the General Education requirement for Culture and Belief, the Core area requirement for Historical Study A, and also fulfills the requirement that one of the eight General Education courses also engages substantially with Study of the Past. Ec 1056 Market Design, offered by Susan Athey (Spring). Ec 1356 Economics of Work and Family, offered by Claudia Goldin (Fall). This course, when taken for a letter grade, meets the General Education requirement for United States in the World or the Core area requirement for Social Analysis. Ec 1370 Media, Democracy and Economics, offered by Philippe Aghion and Benedicte Berner (Fall). Ec 1425 Political Economics, offered by Andrei Shleifer (Spring). Ec 1490 Growth and Crisis in the World Economy, offered by Dale Jorgenson (Spring). Ec 1630 Economcis of Sports and Entertainment, offeded by Stanley Engerman (Spring)

Please check out the Economics Department’s web site: www.economics.harvard.edu (click on the undergraduate program link). The online document Undergraduate Economics at Harvard explains the department, and in particular all undergraduate concentration requirements, in detail. This is a great resource.

We all wish you the best of luck with your upcoming year.

Regards,

Jeffrey A. Miron
Senior Lecturer
Director of Undergraduate Studies

Fall Key Dates 09

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