Dr. Daniel A. Talley

Dr. Daniel A. Talley

Associate Professor of Economics
College of Business and Information Systems
Office: East Hall 306B
Madison , South Dakota 57042
Phone: (605) 256-5314

Office Hours:
Fall 2006
Weekdays from 1:30 - 3:00 pm and Tuesday/Thursday from 9 - 11 am

Appointments may also be made outside of these hours, if mutually convenient.

It is the first day of classes at DSU and the semester follows a summer that flew by. I spent much of that summer enjoying a few family excursions and many father-son play-days with my my son, Alex. He is now an on-the-move three year old who enjoys outings to parks, riding around the block on his scooter, and the rare treat of a trip to the 'Center Pool' which is his name for the impressive swimming pool at the Madison Community Center . (The picture page is very out of date) We also had a lot of fun this month taking a trip with his grandparents from Hawaii to Mt. Rushmore. This was his first time visiting the monument and really enjoyed seeing the 'Happy Faces' up high, as he calls them. To a three year old, it seems most faces are happy faces.

The new semester begins at DSU, once again presenting new opportunities and challenges for me and my family. I would like to mention a few of them.

My professional life will focus on research into the area of teaching with technology and will have the opportunity to present a paper at the ASSA national economics conference in January 2007 on the subject of teaching economics in a wireless laptop environment. My professional interests also include the impact of trade liberalization on the United States economy. In addition to the important trade issues of the day that I am following (Will this administration repeat past tendencies toward protectionism now that the economy is slowing and a mid-term election is around the corner? Can the Doha Round of the World Trade Organization trade liberalization talks be salvaged? Will NAFTA be expanded into a western hemispheric pact?), I am also observing current macroeconomic trends and participating in the discussion of the integration of web technology into the pedagogy of economics with my colleagues here and at other institutions.

I am also serving as a faculty co-advisor to the Phi Beta Lambda (PBL) Business Club this year. I am happy to again welcome my colleagues Lynette Molstad Gorder and Orinda Christoph as DSU PBL Faculty Co-advisors and look forward to working with a great group of student club officers this year. As one of the largest and most active (and most successful!) clubs on campus, I expect that we are going to have a very active year. It looks like we are going to have a lot of fun this year while we pursue our goals of achieving academic excellence, quality student leadership, and a high standard of service to the community that has come to be expected from this premier student organization.

Phi Beta Lambda is a chapter of the national FBLA-PBL organization. Although I could not attend this year, we sent an excellent group of students to represent DSU and South Dakota at this year's National Leadership Conference in Nashville. In July, the Business Club students upheld the highest standards of the organization in competition by winning four competitive events awards (out of 5 total by students from South Dakota)--and I understand that they had a lot of fun in and around the city! FYI: Phi Beta Lambda is a national organization dedicated to student academic achievement, leadership, and professionalism. It is the collegiate-level sister organization to FBLA, the Future Business Leaders of America.

This capped a highly successful year, in which we saw a large number of students from DSU qualify to compete at the National Leadership Conference. As mentioned, three DSU students earned national recognition. Brandon Nase came away with a DSU PBL first: he earned 'Top Ten in the Nation' victory in two competitive events. Brandon placed 8th in the nation in C++ Programming and 9th in the nation in Computer Concepts. These academic events are based on a rigorous, timed, written examination. Congratulations, Brandon! Joining Brandon in achieveing national honors in their events are Andrea Lindberg, who took 3rd place in Financial Services, and Jeff Swett who earned 3rd place in Human Resource Management. I cannot understate how impressive a national placement is: They competed against the top two students from each state with PBL chapters (about 40 states). All three are officers this year, with Andrea serving as president of the chapter this year. DSU also has two students on the SD PBL State Officer Team this year: Andrea Lindberg and Micheal Perrion. I am very excited to see this level of participation and leadership by DSU PBL students and look forward to assisting the SD PBL organization this year.

I am looking forward to teaching three microeconomic principles classes and a business statistics course this semester. Introducing business students to the realm of statistical analysis is always a challenge I enjoy. And the principles of economics courses are always great to teach given all of the interesting economic and geopolitical challenges the U.S. faces these days. And the use of the Tablet PC computers adds an extra dimension to my class sessions. There would also seem to be no shortage of topics, between the slowing recovery, the inflationary pressures from high gas prices, the escalating trade deficit and the surging Federal budget deficit (called the 'twin deficits' in the 1980s), the war on terrorism, homeland defense, and ongoing corporate ethics issues that will no doubt continue to have profound impact on this country's major firms and their employees--even here in South Dakota!