Spring 2007

Forty years ago as a freshman at Rose Poly, Marshall Goldsmith knew he wanted to pursue a business career. However, he began to doubt whether engineering or science was the right study area to prepare him for his career goal. At the same time, a young Rose Poly professor named John Ying had convinced his faculty colleagues that the college should offer a degree in mathematical economics. Goldsmith became one of the first students to pursue the new degree. He graduated in 1970, earned an MBA and Ph.D., and credits Ying with being an important influence on his highly successful career. Goldsmith has earned acclaim as one of America’s 50 great thinkers and leaders in the management field.

Goldsmith is one of many Rose-Hulman graduates who have used their economics degree as a foundation for success. As the 40th anniversary of the degree program approaches, its graduates include leaders in business, engineering, entrepreneurship, education, and medicine. Ying came to Rose-Hulman in 1963 as the first professor hired who had been educated as an economist. The economics degree began with a strong base in mathematics. Students pursuing an economics degree as a major or second major were required to take half of their courses in mathematics.

“Creating the degree program was important because it gave students an alternative to engineering and science,” recalls Ying, who was awarded professor emeritus status upon his retirement in 1995. He lives in Seattle, Wash. with his wife Margaret.

“There were other students, like Marshall, who were exceptionally bright, but decided they didn’t want to be an engineer and yet they valued a Rose education,” Ying said. “Creating the economics degree gave those students a chance to stay and earn a Rose degree.”

Goldsmith, known as one of the world’s foremost authorities on executive leadership, recently visited with his former professor, who Goldsmith describes as a great teacher, coach and mentor.

“His help means more to me than almost anyone that I’ve ever met,” says Goldsmith, who resides in San Diego, Calif. “He always went out of his way to listen to my concerns and I will always be grateful.”

Ying is one of the teachers and mentors that Goldsmith acknowledges in the front of his most recent best seller “What Got You Here Won’t Get You There.” It is the twenty-third book on leadership that Goldsmith has authored. The book is a New York Times best seller and Wall Street Journal No. 1 business best seller.

Goldsmith has been cited by Business Week as one of the most influential practitioners in the history of leadership development. He serves as co-founder of Marshall Goldsmith Partners, a network of top-level executive coaches.

The economics program remains in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences where it began under Ying’s leadership. Department Head Caroline Carvill says the program gives students the opportunity to use their math and analytical skills in a discipline different from engineering and science.

“Students can use their technical education to design and innovate, but they will need economic perspectives and skills to succeed in their own businesses,” she stated.

Mike Hatfield agrees with Carvill’s assessment. A veteran of three successful communications systems start-up businesses, Hatfield earned a mathematical economics degree along with a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering in 1984.

Reflecting on the reasons he pursued the economics degree, Hatfield says, “I knew I wanted to someday run my own business. I felt that it would help me better understand the basics of business and the economics of the firm. It seemed I needed something more than just my electrical engineering degree,” explained Hatfield, who is president and CEO of Cyan Optics Inc., in Petaluma , Calif.

“I learned accounting, supply and demand relationships, balance sheets, pricing strategies, and financial modeling,” said Hatfield, a member of the Rose-Hulman Board of Trustees. “I use something I learned in those classes almost every day.”

Hatfield credits Ying with being a strong influence on his decision to pursue his career path. “He encouraged me to leverage and extend what I had learned by pursuing my MBA in finance. What he taught me greatly enhanced the skills that I have used throughout my career,” stated Hatfield.

For Mark McBride (’75) it was in economics classes where he saw the real power of using mathematical modeling. When asked what skills he learned at Rose-Hulman that are still valuable to him today, McBride answered, “It was the ability to formulate, derive and test the implications of a mathematical model of an issue or question. Those skills are the main stream of what I do today as an economist.”

McBride is in his twenty-seventh year of university teaching. He currently serves as professor and director of graduate studies in the Department of Economics at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

The growth of the economics major provided the basis for the development of the college’s courses in entrepreneurship, states Tom Mason, professor of economics and director of the engineering management graduate program. Mason also served for several years as head of the humanities and social sciences department.

“Few economics departments in higher education teach this (entrepreneurship) important component of our economy as a course topic, but it is critical for the roles that our students play,” commented Mason.

Mason has witnessed the increased student interest in economics since his hiring in 1972 when he joined Ying as the second economist on the faculty.

“Enrollments have increased. More courses makes it easier for students to schedule classes to earn a second major or a minor in economics,” Mason said.

The increase in student interest is related to the quality of teaching, says Carvill. “Our program has excellent faculty,” she stated.

In addition to Mason, the economics faculty includes professors Dale Bremmer and Kevin Christ. A fourth economist will join the faculty in the fall. Eighteen courses are offered through the economics program.

McBride credits Ying and Mason with providing the guidance that led to his career in teaching.

“They believed in my potential as an economist and worked hard to give me the guidance and experiences I needed to be successful.”

When asked what advice he would give current Rose-Hulman students about the value of learning economics, Hatfield gave a specific reply, “It is simple. The absence of a basic understanding of economics has doomed many otherwise worthy engineering projects.”