Featured Students and Alumni
Lisa Taylor
Lisa Taylor earned her Bachelor of Science degrees in Economics and Mathematics from Kansas State
University in 2009. After earning her Master of Science degree in Economics in 2011
from Texas A&M University, she joined the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City as a
Research Associate. In this position, she supports the economists at the Bank in their economic research
and monetary policy work.
Todd Zeller
Todd Zeller graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor's degree in December 2007 and
with Master's degree in May 2009. While studying at K-State, he was an active member
of the Economics Club, and he was the winner of the John Delehanty Memorial Scholarship
in 2007 in recognition for academic excellence, intellectual integrity, and commitment
to social justice. He currently resides in Wichita where he has been working for the
U.S. Social Security Administration as a Social Insurance Specialist since 2009. Studying
economics provided him with problem solving skills he uses on a daily basis, and he
enjoys applying economic theory to various topics. Several of his memorable experiences
include Dr. Turner's Public Finance class, reading Freakonomics, and the Econ Club's
visit to Koch Industries.
Kevin McBeth
Kevin McBeth graduated magna cum laude in economics, math, and statistics in May,
2007. After graduation, Kevin joined the Actuarial Leadership Development Program
(ALDP) at Travelers Insurance in St. Paul, MN, where he held roles in Bond & Financial
Products Predictive Modeling and Oil & Gas - Actuarial. Upon completion of the ALDP,
he became an Associate Actuary in Business Insurance Shared Actuarial, where he used
SAS and Excel to implement models of business insurance to estimate unpaid claims.
Recently, Kevin moved to the Personal Insurance Research & Development team to help
build heavy duty statistical models for personal auto and home insurance. He highly
recommends that economic students take any class taught by Dennis Weisman. Professor
Weisman’s soft socratic teaching style and industry experience are immensely helpful
in developing critical thinking skills.
Christina Forsberg
Christina Forsberg graduated in May 2008. She currently resides in Arlington, Virginia outside of Washington, D.C. where she
completed her master's in economics at George Mason University during a 2-year fellowship
with the Mercatus Center. Upon graduation in May 2010, she began work as an economist with the Joint Economic Committee for the U.S. Congress.
She is grateful for the solid base in economics education from K-State that prepared
her for further academic pursuits and current position. In addition, the Economics
Club provided even more opportunities to explore the truly diverse applications of
an education in economics.
Katie Gustafson
Katie Gustafson is a senior in Economics and will graduate in May 2012. She is also studying International Business and French. Katie is a top-notch student and highly successful outside the classroom as well. She is the current President of the K-State Economics Club and is the Chairperson of Powercat Financial Counseling. She tutors student-athletes in Economics and works for the K-State Student Radio Station. Katie is the 2011 recipient of the Armstrong Award in recognition of her outstanding accomplishments. With all this activity, Katie still found time to study abroad for a semester at the Economics School in Prague. Katie is considering a career in business or international law.
Jared Konczal
Jared Konczal graduated summa cum laude in May 2009 from K-State with a B.A. in Economics and a minor in Leadership Studies. He currently lives in Kansas City, where he has worked for the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation as a research analyst in the Foundation's Research and Policy department since summer 2009. Having a general background in economics, particularly having taken courses dealing with econometrics, public policy, and finance, is necessary for the research assistance he provides. He especially enjoyed and recommends Dr. Weisman's Industrial Organization class and Dr. Turner's course in Public Finance. He is grateful to K-State and the economics department for their flexibility in dealing with his course schedule during his senior year, allowing him to serve as an intern at the Kauffman Foundation during the school year, which lead to his current position.
Andy Brownback
Andy Brownback graduated in May 2010 with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Mathematics. He now lives in San Diego, California where he is in his second year of the Ph.D. program in economics at the University of California, San Diego. His research interests include game theory, behavioral economics, and international economics. After this year, he will begin full-time work writing his dissertation in the hopes of securing an academic position after he graduates. Andy is grateful for the tools that he learned in both the economics and mathematics departments at K-State. Additionally, he believes that experiencing quality instruction at K-State has helped him immensely as he teaches undergraduate microeconomics.
Sarah Brink
Sarah Brink graduated in May 2011 from K-State with a B.A. in Economics and a minor in Chinese. She currently resides in Denver, Colorado, where she works as a transfer pricing analyst at Wright Economics. She loves working in a field where her economics background is such an asset. Sarah believes having taken econometrics and statistics at K-State were instrumental in securing her position and she has found that, in her day-to-day work, she utilizes many of the concepts taught in these and other K-State economics classes. While at K-State, Sarah especially enjoyed Dr. Weisman’s Industrial Organization class, Senior Seminar with Dr. Thomas, and participating in the Economics Department’s Econ Club.
Ben Mooneyham
Ben Mooneyham graduated in December 2008. He and his wife (and brand new daughter)
currently live in Chicago, where Ben attends The University of Chicago Law School
(Class of 2012). In addition to his classwork, Ben is the Business and Communications
Editor on the managing board of The University of Chicago Law Review. During the summer
of 2011 he worked at Reed Smith LLP in Chicago. Ben really appreciates his economics
education at K-State, not only because Professor Weisman and others convinced him
to apply to law school, but also because The University of Chicago is a place where
"law and economics" is taken very seriously.