The Department of Economics in the IU School of Liberal Arts in Indianapolis has been in existence for over 40 years, and during that time the department has experienced growth and evolution.
During the first twenty years, the department focused exclusively on delivering quality undergraduate education to the growing number of students—many of whom came directly from local area high schools.
As the campus of IU Indianapolis and the IU School of Liberal Arts grew, so did the needs of the students. The Department of Economics began to incorporate graduate work in the early 1990’s with the addition of a master’s degree program. The program was highly successful placing its graduates in banks, state government agencies, and consulting firms. Those pursuing academic careers over the years were able to gain admission for doctoral programs at Chicago, Cornell, Emory, Georgia, Indiana, Rutgers, and Texas, among others.
The Fall of 2010 marked another milestone in the advancement of the department as it welcomed its first cohort of Ph.D. students. By 2020, the Department had grown to 18 full-time faculty members and 15 Ph.D. students in residence and became one of the top 100 research programs in the United States. Leveraging proximity to, and relationships with, the large medical education community of Indianapolis and central Indiana, the Economics Department’s Ph.D. Program now specializes in Health Economics and offers cutting-edge scholarship in this growing field.
