FACULTY
Dr. Robert Keller
Professor of Economics - Director, University Honors Programrobert.keller@colostate.edu
Academic Village-Honors, 1025 Campus Delivery
970.491.2617
970.491.2617 Fax
Teaching Philosophy
Teaching reflects my attempt to generate passion and excitement about the power of economic ideas. Economics, ranging from theory to economic history, provides distinctive insights into the way the world works and why there are successes as well as failures. Furthermore, these insights ought to be connected to a commitment to eliminate, or at least to cope more successfully with, problems of human suffering.
A key to teaching is to focus on what it is that students should learn and to identify processes that enhance students' learning. An enduring challenge is to present materials and to construct assignments in a way that enables students to share the excitement of discovery.
Research
My administrative and teaching responsibilities have curtailed my scholarly writing activities. I remain curious and intellectually alive about two main areas in U. S. economic history -- the 1920s, and the historical roots of current problems in economic growth and economic equality. I am also trying to apply social science research methods to areas of interest in administration, e.g., student retention issues.
Recent Work
"President Nixon's Political Business Cycle,"" in William Levantrosser and Leon Friedman, eds., Richard Nixon (1991) (with Ann Mari May)
"Crisis and Leviathan: A Critique and Reconstruction, " Journal of Economic Issues (June 1991).