Announcements.

Kenneth G. Elzinga Distinguished Teaching Award

The Southern Economic Association will annually honor one or more faculty members for outstanding contributions to teaching under a resolution passed by the Board of Trustees of the organization at its fall 2002 meeting. The Association promotes advances in research and teaching through its annual meeting and the publication of the Southern Economic Journal. A committee of the Board of Trustees of the Association annually selects the most outstanding paper published in the Southern Economic Journal during the past year. The author(s) of the paper are recognized and honored at the annual meeting with a plaque and cash award for their contribution to the advancement of the discipline of economics. The Southern Economic Association will now also honor exemplary educators for their contributions to economics instruction on their campus or beyond by conferring upon them the Kenneth G. Elzinga Distinguished Teaching Award.

Ken Elzinga is widely recognized as one of the most accomplished, effective, and influential educators in the economics profession during a distinguished teaching and research career at the University of Virginia that has spanned over 35 years. Ken is creative and versatile in the classroom, sharing his thoughts effectively with large groups of students studying the principles of economics, and using the Socratic method when working with students in a more advanced setting. He is a pioneer in the use of literature to explore economic reasoning, which led to his writing murder mysteries that can be solved by careful economic analysis. Ken's style of instruction and commitment to helping students develop an understanding of and appreciation for economic reasoning and insights serve as an inspiration for economic educators, so it is a fitting honor for exemplary economic educators to be honored with an award in his name.

Through a letter circulated early in October 2002 from the Board of Trustees of the Southern Economic Association, nominations were solicited from economics department heads from each institution in the southern part of the United States. Nominations were received from universities and colleges that are teaching oriented and from schools that emphasize research. Department heads were encouraged to nominate a member of their department by submitting a letter to the Board spelling out the candidates' special attributes and accomplishments as an economics educator. A...