ISPE seeks to provide opportunities for undergraduate students to access a broad range of experiences and new ideas in economics, political science, history, and beyond.
Economics Club gives students the opportunity to become more involved in the field of economics through keynote speakers, academic conferences, field trips, debates, and more. You don’t have to be an economics major to join –anyone with an interest in economics is welcome.
Economics Reading Group offers students an informal atmosphere for discussion and opportunities for interaction with faculty outside the classroom.
Fed Challenge Competition gives economics students the chance to put their skills to the test, presenting forecasts and policy recommendations to the Federal Reserve, private sector, and academic economists.The course involves an in-depth study of U.S. monetary policy, an important and highly relevant subject for the serious business student. The class culminates in the Fed Challenge each November in Chicago. Students present their analysis of current economic conditions in the context of a simulated Federal Reserve policy meeting.
Econ in Motion, an annual film project led by Dr. Cecil Bohanon, allows students an opportunity to create a film –from acting and directing to editing. The films are presented to the University and the local community and made available to educators worldwide at the YouTube website Econ in Motion. The 2021 project examines Milton Friedman’s relevance in the 2020s and allowed participants to visit Capitaf, Milton and Rose Friedman’s Vermont estate, for a week of onsite learning and filming.
Menard Summer Research Fellows program gives selected undergraduate students the opportunity to create independent research projects under the mentorship of one of the Institute’s faculty. Menard Summer Research Fellows each develop a proposal and research plan in collaboration with a faculty member. They then spend the summer reading the prior research in economics and collecting and analyzing the relevant data or other empirical evidence. By the end of the summer, each will produce a research paper of a length agreed upon with their faculty mentor. Further goals include turning the research paper into a co-authored project with the faculty mentor with the intent of presenting it at a professional economics conference (such as the Association of Private Enterprise Education), and eventually getting it published in a professional journal.
Madam CJ Walker Colloquium / Menard Political Economy Speaker Series seek to broaden the intellectual conversation on the Ball State campus, providing opportunities for students, faculty, and staff to hear new and different ideas that might challenge them in important ways:
- Menard Political Economy Speaker Series hosts two speakers each semester to engage with students, faculty, and the community.
- Madam C. J. Walker Colloquium in Political Economy is an annual event which presents a public talk with a prominent scholar, as well as a series of smaller events with students --all themed around a topic. Named after the early 20th century African-American beauty products entrepreneur and social activist whose business was headquartered in Indianapolis, this event explores the relevance of free enterprise and entrepreneurship for the past, present, and future of historically marginalized groups.
