Economics Department Faculty

Barbara Burnell - Professor of Economics
(330) 263-2417 / bburnell@wooster.edu

B.A. Connecticut 1973; M.A., Ph.D. Illinois 1975, 1977.

Barbara S. Burnell is a professor of economics and former chair of the women's studies program at The College of Wooster, where she has been a member of the faculty since 1977. Her areas of expertise include economics and education.

After receiving her B.A. from the University of Connecticut (1973), Burnell went on to earn her M.A. (1975) and her Ph.D. (1977) from the University of Illinois.

She is the author of several works, including Technological Change and Women's Work Experience. She also authored "Some Reflections on the Spatial Dimensions of Occupational Segregation," and “Teaching Gender Development And Cultural Change From An Interdisciplinary Perspective”. Her current research focuses on the economics of charter schools and state/local tax structure.

Burnell is a member of the American Economic Association, the Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession, and the International Association for Feminist Economists.

» Prof. Barb Burnell Faculty Page

James D. Burnell - Professor of Economics
(330) 263-2308 / burnell@wooster.edu

B.A. Western Illinois 1973; M.A., Ph.D. Illinois 1975, 1977.

James D. Burnell, professor of economics at The College of Wooster, specializes in urban and regional economics, environmental and natural resource economics, and public finance.

A former chair of the department and a member of the faculty at Wooster since 1977, Burnell is a graduate of Western Illinois University (1973). He earned his M.A. (1975) and his Ph.D. (1977) from the University of Illinois. 

The author of many scholarly articles, including “Crime and Race: Contiguous Communities” in the American Journal of Economics and Sociology and “Community Interaction and Suburban Zoning Policy” with Barbara Burnell in Urban Affairs Quarterly, Burnell is a member of the American Economic Association, the Regional Science Association, and the Association for Environmental and Resource Economists. He also holds membership in Omicron Delta Epsilon, an economics honor society.

Before coming to Wooster, Burnell was a teaching assistant for courses in microeconomics and statistics at the University of Illinois. In addition, he was a research assistant for the Institute for Environmental Studies.

» Prof. Jim Burnell Faculty Page

Mehdi Guirat - Merton M. Seats, Jr. Visiting Instructor in Economics
(330) 263-2531 / mguirat@wooster.edu

B.S., Tunis University, Tunis, Tunisia, 2000; M.A., University of Missouri, 2002; Ph.D., University of Missouri

Mr. Ben Guirat has been appointed the Merton M. Sealts, Jr. Visiting Instructor in Economics at the College. He received his B.S. from Tunis University, Tunis, Tunisia, and his M.A. from the University of Missouri at Kansas City. Currently, he is a doctoral student, also at the University of Missouri at Kansas City. His areas of interest are in microeconomics, international finance, industrial economics, and econometrics. He previously taught at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada and has also worked with students involved in Model U.N.

James Hornsten - Assistant Professor of Economics
(330) 263-2216 / jhornsten@wooster.edu

B.A. St. Thomas, Minnesota 1993; M.A. Northwestern 1995; Ph.D. Northwestern 2003.

James Hornsten has been a member of Wooster’s faculty since 2003. His current research addresses the balance of power between corporate boards of directors, executives, and shareholders and the relationship between board composition and firm performance. Previously, he studied how firms should construct licensing contracts to manage their intellectual property and how markets respond to technological change. His dissertation used game theory to examine patent licensing under asymmetric information and introduced new measures of innovation quality, which accounted for changes in market structure.

Hornsten earned his B.A. from the University of St. Thomas (1993), and his M.A. (1995) and Ph.D. (2003) from Northwestern University. During graduate school, he taught courses at Lake Forest College, Loyola University, and Northwestern University, where he was named Outstanding Graduate Student Lecturer, a university wide honor. Before joining the faculty at Wooster, he was a visiting instructor at Bowdoin College.

Hornsten teaches industrial organization, corporate finance, organization of the firm, marketing, principles and first year seminar. He is a member of the American Economics Association and an avid cyclist.

» Prof. Hornsten's Faculty Page

Amyaz Moledina - Assistant Professor of Economics
(330) 263-2287 / amoledina@wooster.edu

B.A. Macalester 1993; Ph.D. Minnesota 2002.

Amyaz A. Moledina is an assistant professor of economics at The College of Wooster, where he has been a member of the faculty since 2003. He specializes in macroeconomics, international economics, monetary economics, and environmental economics.  

Moledina received his B.A. from Macalester College (1993) and his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota (2002).  

His article, "Measuring Commodity Price Volatility and the Welfare Consequences of Eliminating Volatility," was recently published as a University of Minnesota Economic Development Center working paper. It is currently under review at a journal. He has also been published in the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management as well as Water International.

Moledina was nominated for an Excellence in Teaching award at Bates College in 2003. He is a member of the American Economics Association and the American Agricultural Economics Association.

» Prof. Moledina's Faculty Page

Russell A. Ormiston, Jr. - Visiting Instructor in Economics
(330) 263-2392 / rormiston@wooster.edu

B.S., M.A. Michigan State 1999, 2002; Michigan State.

Russell A. Ormiston is a visiting assistant professor of economics at The College of Wooster, where he joined the faculty in 2007. His primary research efforts focus on the economic impact of structural unemployment among displaced blue-collar manufacturing workers. Ormiston also studies the development of occupation-specific skills and their applications in predicting labor market outcomes. Additionally, he has co-authored articles on international labor standards, work-family conflict, and the construction industry.

Before coming to Wooster, Ormiston taught courses in mathematics, statistics, and economics at Michigan State University, where he earned his B.S. (1999), M.A. (2002, 2007), and Ph.D. (2007).

A member of the Labor and Employment Relations Association, Ormiston has served as a consultant in collective bargaining. At Wooster, Ormiston teaches principles of economics, labor economics, and human resource management.

John W. Sell - Interim Vice President for Finance and Business and James R. Wilson Professor of Business Economics
(330) 263-2383 (On Leave 2003-04) / jwsell@wooster.edu

B.S. Pennsylvania State 1973; M.A., Ph.D. California (Los Angeles) 1975, 1981.

John W. Sell is Interim Vice President for Finance and Business and the James R. Wilson Professor of Business Economics at The College of Wooster, where he joined the faculty in 1981.He specializes in financial markets, investments, and strategic management. 

Sell received his B.S. from Pennsylvania State University (1973). He then earned an M.A. (1975) and a Ph.D. (1981) in economics and finance from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA).

As a consultant, Sell has provided advice for such companies as Gerstenslager Co., LTB Industries, and PPG Industries, Inc. He is a member of the American Economic Association and the Western Economic Association, and serves on the finance committee of the Board of Goodwill of Wayne and Holmes Counties.

He has published work on financial market theory and practice. His current research focuses on information transmission in smaller markets and how the merger of such markets affects transmission. Having spent time a significant amount of time studying in Germany, Sell is especially interested in international business culture and is actively studying German and U.S. firms to determine whether they behave differently.

Sell also directs Wooster’s domestic and international business internship programs and the new social entrepreneurship program, He also is the faculty advisor to the Jenny Student Investment Club.

» Prof. Sell's Faculty Page

James M. Warner - Assistant Professor of Economics
(330) 263-2257 (On Leave 2003-04) / jwarner@wooster.edu

B.A. Bates, 1983; M.A. California (Riverside), 1985; M.A. New Hampshire, 1994; Ph.D. Utah, 1996.

James M. Warner is an assistant professor of economics at The College of Wooster and a member of the faculty since 1999. He specializes in macroeconomics and international and development economics. He has spent considerable time in East Africa, where he studied the economics, culture, and people of that region. He also has lectured and worked in Tanzania, Ethiopia, Mozambique, and Kenya, visited Sudan, Uganda, Swaziland, and South Africa. His time in Africa has given him an in-depth view of the dynamics of developing countries, and he brings this knowledge into the classroom.

Warner’s recent publications include “Supply Response in an Agrarian Economy with Non-Symmetric Gender Relations,” in World Development, and a policy paper with the Food Security Unit of The European Union and the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, titled “Survey of Mozambican Commercial Agricultural Traders – Access to and Use for Financial Credit.”

» Prof. Warner's Faculty Page