Once, when I was in high school, I entered a public speaking contest. I think there were four entries, and I came in third, after two people who spoke about the 1969 lunar landing. At one point in my speech, I looked out at the room of teenagers and a few adults and asked a question. In a voice squeaking with stage fright, I posed to the audience “in about thirty years, someone will be sworn in as president of the United States of America. I ask you today; why shouldn’t it be one of us?”
Rosemarie Emanuele
"Math Geek Mom"
Although she holds a Ph.D. in economics from Boston College, Rosemarie Emanuele is a professor and the chair of the Department of Mathematics at Ursuline College in Pepper Pike, Ohio, just outside of Cleveland. She loves to teach math but also pursues research related to the economics of nonprofit organizations and volunteer labor, and has published in both economics and interdisciplinary journals — as well as in the book that inspired this blog. She is the proud mother of a wonderful daughter.
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Most Recent Articles
January 8, 2009
There is a commercial for some over the counter medicine that talks about “Dr. Mom.” Already being “Dr. Mom”, in the sense of “Mama, Ph.D.”, it is interesting to stop and realize that we are as mothers also asked to assemble information and make decisions on medical issues on a daily basis. From the initial weighing-in of an infant that is given in percentiles to the lawyer voice at the end of many drug commercials, we quickly realize that taking care of a family’s health is no simple matter. To do this often requires a working knowledge of statistics as they relate to medical issues.
January 1, 2009
Economists make many assumptions in our efforts to mathematically model the world. Some of these assumptions instantly make sense to everyone. The idea that family members work together so as to maximize the welfare of the family unit is one such example. Other assumptions, however, require more of a leap of faith. For example, we often assume that lending markets are such that people can borrow against future income increases to pay for education.
December 18, 2008
We economists have great respect for “markets”, the interaction of buyers and sellers of some good or service. While sometimes, as with the mall, these markets are easy to locate, other times they do not reside in any particular time or place, as is the case of e-bay. For a few days in January each year, these economists who believe so strongly in markets meet in one city at one time to create a visible labor market. I understand from my colleagues in other fields that similar things happen for them, too.
December 11, 2008
Last week was the anniversary of the legal hearing that made our daughter’s adoption official. And so, as much of the world prepares to celebrate the ultimate in unplanned pregnancies, I want to write about something a little different; I want to write about what adoption looks like today, in the United States. For if “The Lattice” is an alternative approach to one’s career, adoption is also an alternative approach to becoming a parent.
December 4, 2008
December 2nd was the 28th anniversary of the murder of four American churchwomen in El Salvador in 1980. The best known of these is Jean Donovan, a lay missionary from the Cleveland, Ohio diocese. Also from the Cleveland Diocese was an Ursuline Sister named Dorothy Kazel, a graduate of our Ursuline College and a member of the local community of Ursuline Sisters here in Cleveland. These four women followed their hearts to work with the poor of that country, and in the process ended up giving everything for their beliefs.
November 20, 2008
This is a sad week in the life of Ursuline College, as one of our own has died. Jackie, a member of our nursing faculty since 1973, was called home Friday of last week, and our campus mourns her loss.
November 13, 2008
This is the time of the school year when many of us are running around looking for people to teach classes for us as adjunct professors. This brings back memories of the times I worked as an adjunct professor when I was in graduate school, acquiring experience as I was paid minimally for my time. Today, as chair, I see the market for adjuncts from another perspective. I want to take a minute today to discuss the economics behind the market for adjunct professors, and how this might help potential adjunct professors find the best possible position.
November 6, 2008
The American Mathematical Society recently published a study (Cross-Cultural Analysis of Students with Exceptional Talent in Mathematical Problem Solving) that finds evidence to disprove the widely held idea that girls are not as good at math as boys are. Instead, the relative small percent of girls excelling in math is traced to cultural forces found in the U.S., forces that can be changed so girls can approach the study of math with an open mind.
October 30, 2008
Women are paid, on average, only seventy seven cents for every dollar earned by men. As can be seen at the site of “moms rising”, even larger differentials exist for women who are mothers, and these are most extreme for women who are single mothers. But where do these numbers come from? How are they calculated, and, more importantly, what assumptions are made in performing those calculations? I will discuss how these wage differentials, which many of us have encountered in our own professional careers, are calculated.
