Baird named Fulbright Scholar

UW Tacoma Associate Professor Katie Baird has been awarded a Fulbright Scholar grant to lecture on economics and perform research on education policy at the University of Pais Vasco in Bilbao, Spain, during the 2007-2008 academic year.

Sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, the Fulbright Program provides scholarships for students, scholars and teachers to travel abroad to lecture, study and observe the political, economic, educational and cultural institutions of other countries.

"Being in Spain and participating in an academic community here is a fabulous opportunity, and I hope to make the most of it," said Baird, who is currently getting settled in Spain and preparing to begin teaching in February. "I'm very curious to see what sort of differences there are here in teaching, students and assignments."

Baird, who has served on the UW Tacoma faculty since 2000, teaches economic theory and public policy in UW Tacoma's Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences program. Her current research focuses on analyzing college enrollment and the economics of higher education. She has also examined the economics of college sports, the business of Cuban baseball and tracking of sex offenders in Tacoma. She earned a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Massachusetts in 2000; a Master of Science in Agricultural Economics from Michigan State University in 1989; and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1982.