Current Position: Assistant Professor of Economics, Governors State University

I was born and raised in Zambia and never had I ever once in my life imagined that I would find myself in higher education in the USA. In 2018 I was admitted to the PhD program at CSU and my experiences for five years of grad school was both grueling and wonderful. For academics, we had to burn the midnight oil. And It was all for great reasons. Beyond academics, I met amazing people, people who made me feel at home, despite being thousands of miles away from home. Friendships that I formed at CSU will last me for the rest of my life and I have the people of Fort Collins and the Department of Economics to thank for this.

Before I went to CSU, I had never taught anything in my life. I remember the first day that I taught Principles of Microeconomics as a TA, I was overwhelmed [my cohort mates can attest to this]. I worried whether students would understand my teaching because of my rich African accent. I doubted whether I was truly ready enough to stand in front of a classroom. But the Department of Economics gave me a chance, one that I will never forget. The training at CSU allowed me to learn to become a better teacher. Since graduating from CSU, I have been teaching Development Economics, Principles of Macroeconomics and Research/Statistical Methods for Economics at Colby College as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Economics and I must say I am a pretty good teacher! And all credit goes to the training at CSU.

The sense of community that I felt at CSU was the best of my experience. I remember when I went on the job market in 2022, faculty and colleagues read, critiqued and gave suggestions about my job application materials. In addition to the official mock interviews provided by faculty, students would give each other mock interviews which were super helpful on the market. The end of year and welcome back parties were always a blast! There are so many people who touched my life while at CSU and I will not list everyone here for brevity but all I have are great memories.

I will, however, give a shout out to my advisors though. Dr. Pena and Dr. Ray have been instrumental in helping shape my research interest in Development Economics and Early Childhood development. They have seen me grow both as a researcher and teacher and they have supported me in everything. They have helped me through everything, beit research brainstorming, interviews, job market research presentations, teaching demonstrations preparations, making choices on job offers and even negotiating offers. I will forever be indebted to these two.

Once a Ram, Always a Ram!