UD hosts international M.A. program

Donald Puglisi, MBNA America Professor Emeritus of Business, leads a discussion with students in UD’s Master of Arts in Economic Education and Entrepreneurship program.

11:51 a.m., Aug. 4, 2005--For the past six weeks, 25 educators from China, Japan, Canada and the United States have gathered in Alfred Lerner Hall to hobnob, cut deals and rake in the big bucks for hypothetical enterprises whose headquarters lie in far-flung classrooms.

Though unlikely to actually get rich themselves from their deals, the participants (all of whom are professional teachers nine months out of the year) will more than likely inspire a budding mogul or two upon their return to their classrooms, or at the very least launch a generation of prudent earners and spenders.

All are students in UD’s Master of Arts in Economic Education and Entrepreneurship program--a two-year scholarship course offered through the Center for Economic Education and Entrepreneurship, and they are, first and foremost, information sharers. Their goal is to teach what they’ve learned at UD to students and fellow educators at the home institutions.

The program, which has been offered at UD since 1981 and is directed by James O’Neill, professor of economics, is designed for social studies specialists and general kindergarten-through-grade-12 educators. While its primary goal is to give elementary and secondary school teachers the tools they need to implement economics programs into their curricula, it also teaches lessons in local economies, as participants typically come from at least three different foreign countries--often ones with rapidly shifting economies.

“This is the only existing program in the United States that offers teachers this sort of training,” O’Neill said, “and I think that’s why it attracts so many international students. Its purpose is not just to give teachers strategies to try out when they return to their classrooms, but to train them to be catalysts for change in improving the quality of economic education as well.”

All participants, who are on scholarships, will return to UD for six weeks next summer, before completing their coursework in spring 2007.

“The teachers who attend this program are talented educators,” O’Neill said. “The lessons they learn allow them to implement an economics curriculum in their schools and share their knowledge with both students and other educators.”

Article by Becca Hutchinson
Photo by Kathy F. Atkinson

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