Duke Economics Celebrates Class of 2015 Graduates
11 May 2015 11:20AM
Duke University held its 163rd Commencement Ceremony on Sunday morning, May 10, at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. Immediately following the main Duke ceremony, the Department of Economics held its Graduation Recognition Ceremony in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
The Department of Economics recognized 11 graduates with a Ph.D., 61 graduates with a master of arts in economics, five graduates with a master of science in statistical and economic modeling, and approximately 200 graduates with an economics major. This year a record number of students — nearly 40 — from both the undergraduate and master’s programs will be pursuing doctoral degrees in economics and other related fields.
The student speaker for the event was Jonathan “Jack” Willoughby. Willoughby, who will be graduating with high distinction, spoke about the common experiences he and his fellow Duke Economics majors shared, chief among them the “special opportunity to learn from a collection of incredibly intelligent, accomplished, and caring professors.” According to Willoughby, it was these faculty and the classes they taught that challenged him to re-think how he looks at the world.
“One example is Professor (Charles) Becker’s urban economics class, which necessitated that students drive around Durham and look critically at our community as economists, trying to figure out why things developed in the way that they did, rather than just studying the theory in a textbook,” he said.
Department Chair Patrick Bayer similarly commented on the benefits of an education in economics during his address to the class of 2015.
“For those working in the United States, the skills that will continue to be rewarded in the labor market will be those that are hardest to replace with a machine, computer, or someone working over the Internet from across the world,” he said. “The kinds of thinking that you have developed as part of pursuing a degree in economics here at Duke we hope will serve you well in this regard.”
According to Bayer, “opportunities in the modern economics are absolutely tremendous” for those who continue to build upon the skills they have developed at Duke Economics.
Master’s Awards
Bryant Hopkins and Victoria Eastman won the Duke Department of Economics Master’s Program Award for Leadership.
Nazli Gurdamar and Yenan Wang won the Duke Department of Economics Master’s Program Award for Academic Excellence.
Undergraduate Awards
The following Allen Starling Johnson, Jr. Awards for Excellence in undergraduate Research allow for recognition of those outstanding students whose work stands out among the 29 honors students this year.
The Best Honors Thesis award was given to Jonathan Gao, whose thesis was titled “Competition from Incumbent Firms During Airline Mergers.”
The Best Honors Thesis finalists were Nicholas Becker, Max Lipscomb, Daniel Roeder, and Yifan Ye.
The Class of 2015 Award for Exceptional Growth in the Mastery of Economics was given to Winnie Jebet Biwott.
The Outstanding Symposium Presentation award was given to Nicholas Becker.
The Faculty Award for Outstanding Honors Poster was given to Yifan Ye. The Student Award for Outstanding Honors Poster was given to Shelley Chen.
Couldn't make it to our ceremony? Watch the event on YouTube.
Read a recap of the general Duke University ceremony.