The department underwent an external review of its academic programs this week from Monday, May 2 through Wednesday, May 4^th.  This academic review is a normal procedure at Iowa State University, where programs are reviewed on a regular cycle. A team of six distinguished economists from other insitutions met with department faculty, staff, and students in a series of fact-finding sessions designed to provide a comprehensive perspective of the department ‘s strengths and challenges. They also had opportunities to meet with members of the university administration.

In a final open session on Wednesday, panel members presented their collective perspective on various ways the department can adapt and strengthen in order to address current and future challenges. Their findings will be presented in a formal concluding document yet to be released.

Members of the review team included (from left to right): Scott Irwin (University of Illinois – Urbana-Champaign), Preston McAfee (Yahoo! Research), Barbara Wolfe (University of Wisconsin - Madison), Richard Sexton (University of California – Davis), Mark Roberts (Pennsylvania State University), Larry Karp (University of California – Berkeley). Also present in the photo is Department Chair GianCarlo Moschini.