In 2004, the College student-to-faculty ratio was 8:1, but in the economics department alone it was 35:1. Some students expressed satisfaction with the recent hirings, but also said that the problem remains unsolved.
"I took a class with one of the new economics professors [Christopher Snyder] and it was fantastic," Owen Zidar '08 said. "Hiring solid professors like that is great, but it hasn't solved the problem completely."
Joseph Bafumi and Bridget Coggins will join the government department later in 2006. Government Department Administrator Lisa Wallace said that she expects that they will teach both introductory and advanced courses.
Coggins will teach courses in International Relations beginning in July. She is currently completing her dissertation, entitled "Secession, Recognition, and the International Politics of Statehood" at The Ohio State University.
Bafumi specializes in American politics and will teach government 10, a statistics course, and government 31, a course on campaigns and elections.
In recent years, many students have complained about overcrowding in the Government department as well. Among the biggest complaints are the limited course selection and the growing size of many of the department's classes.
The department could grow by more than two professors next year, as it has made offers to other candidates who have not yet responded to the offers.
"We're always looking for the opportunity to bring in new faces and new people," Wallace said.
In the past few years, the number of economics majors on campus has surged, filling classes beyond capacity and causing long wait-lists for many popular courses.
For this academic year, the department welcomed two new junior professors, Massimiliano De Santis and Jonathan Zinman, and one senior professor, Christopher Snyder.
According to department chair Jonathan Skinner, a national search for junior professors yielded more than 500 applicants for just a few openings. The department carefully reviewed each application and offered jobs to only the most qualified people, he said.
"These were the people who came out on top and weren't snatched away at double the salary to Harvard business school," Skinner said.
Hiring senior professors can require less guesswork than junior professors, who apply as graduate students, Skinner said.
"For senior hires we know about what their expertise is and how they would fit in with the department," Skinner said, pointing to Snyder's track record as a researcher and a teacher.
Zinman's concentrations are the economies of developing countries, consumer choice, and behavioral economics; De Santis specializes in finance and macroeconomics; and Snyder's areas of focus are industrial organization and microeconomic theory.
