Midwest Universities’ Development Day; December 2011

In December 2010, the University of Michigan hosted a development day, a small conference in which development economists from Michigan, Michigan State and Notre Dame participated. It was a short (one-day) conference that included 6 papers, one by a faculty member from each university and one by a graduate student. The goal was to foster dialogue and build community among development economists in the Midwest, but also to give valuable presentation experience and feedback on new projects for graduate students and faculty. Development Day was well-received by all participants. Notre Dame participants included Luke Chicoine (graduate student presenter), Molly Lipscomb (faculty presenter), and Joe Kaboski (faculty participant).

Kaboski wishes to continue to build on this success by sponsoring Development Day in December 2011. However, especially given recent hires in development at Northwestern (Cynthia Kinnan, Lori Beaman, Sima Jayanachandaran), he wishes to expand the set of universities to other universities in the Midwest, including Northwestern, U. of Chicago, and Washington University at St. Louis.