WINNER!
Governor’s Financial Literacy Award 2018
Recognizing individuals and organizations for excellence in increasing financial literacy among Wisconsin citizens
FACULTY
The seminars offered by the Office for the Advancement of Free Enterprise Education feature lectures, simulations, and discussions led by experienced economics professors. All of our faculty members are selected for their ability to engage adults and make economics and personal finance practical and easy to understand. The economic way of thinking is stressed throughout, emphasizing the consideration of choices, costs, incentives, rules of the system, gains from trade and unintended consequences as we make decisions.
M. Scott Niederjohn
Program Director & Faculty
Dr. M. Scott Niederjohn is Senior Vice President for Economic Development and the Charlotte and Walter Kohler Charitable Trust Professor of Economics at Lakeland University in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Dr. Niederjohn holds undergraduate and master’s degrees from Marquette University and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee.
Professor Niederjohn has published more than fifty articles, monographs, reports, and curriculum materials in journals such as Applied Economics, Monthly Labor Review, Journal of Urban Affairs,Eastern Economics Journal, Journal of Private Enterprise, and Wisconsin Interest. He co-authored the 2nd edition of Economic Episodes in American History with Mark C. Schug, William C. Wood and Tawni Hunt Ferrarini.
Professor Niederjohn’s research is concentrated in the areas of economic education, public policy analysis, and applied microeconomics. He serves on the Governor’s Council for Financial Literacy, and has received the Governors Financial Literacy Award in 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2019.
During the fall of 2013, Professor Niederjohn was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to teach at the University of Luxembourg. He serves on the board of the (National) Association of Private Enterprise Education. Professor Niederjohn was recognized in the December 2014 issue of Money Magazine for his work in the shaping the landscape of financial education curriculum.
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Mark C.
Schug
Senior Program Advisor & Faculty
Mark C. Schug is Professor Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin‑Milwaukee and Senior Program Advisor to the Lakeland University Office for the Advancement of Free Enterprise Education. Professor Schug taught for 36 years at the middle school, high school, and university levels. A widely-recognized scholar, he has written and edited over 230 articles, books, and national curriculum materials. Professor Schug has spoken to local, state, and national groups throughout the United States and in 11 other countries. He has been the guest co-editor of 11 issues of Social Education, the flagship journal of the National Council for the Social Studies. His latest books are Teaching Economics in Troubled Times published by Routledge Press and co-edited with William C. Wood of James Madison University and Economic Episodes in American History published by Wohl Publishing and co-authored by William C. Wood, Tawni Hunt Ferrarini and M. Scott Niederjohn, now in its second edition. The same author team of Ferrarini, Niederjohn, Schug, and Wood has written Teachers Can Be Financially Fit: Economists’ Advice for Educators which is forthcoming in 2020 from Springer Publications.
Professor Schug does consulting for several local, state, and national organizations and has served on the boards of local, state, and national non-profit organizations including the (national) Association of Private Enterprise Education, Economics Wisconsin, Business and Economics Academy of Milwaukee (BEAM), School Choice Wisconsin, and the Wisconsin Council for the Social Studies. Professor Schug earned his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota. He has received six national awards for leadership, curriculum writing (two), service, and research (two) in economic education.
Mark and his wife Io have been married for 51 years, have two grown daughters, and four grandchildren. They live in Port St. Lucie, Florida.
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Kim
Holder
Senior Program Advisor for Heroes & Faculty
Kim Holder is the Director of the University of West Georgia’s (UWG) Center for Economic Education and Senior Lecturer of Economics in the Richards College of Business (RCOB). She’s an alumna of UWG and Georgia State University’s Andrew Young School of Policy Studies.
Kim’s passion for her students is notable both inside and outside of the classroom. Her work on campus has been recognized by the UWG Student Government Association’s Faculty Member of the Year Award (2014), the UWG Alumni Association’s J. Owen Moore Faculty Award (2016), and the UWG Athletic Foundation’s Faculty Member of the Year Westpy Award (2016) which was created in recognition of her service. She is also the recipient of the RCOB Excellence in Teaching (2013), Service (2015, 2018), and Research (2016) awards, along with multiple faculty-sponsored undergraduate research awards for mentoring undergraduate research students.
Holder’s academic research focuses on creatively teaching with media and social media to break down barriers to economics education. She created the National Rockonomix Contest (Journal of Economic Education, www.Rockonomix.com) along with other innovative techniques (“Putting Yourself in the Picture with an ECONSelfie”, International Review of Economic Education, “Art of Econ: Incorporating the Arts through Active Learning Assignments in Principles Courses”, Journal of Economics and Finance Education, and “The Economics of The Hunger Games”, International Journal of Pluralism and Economics Education) in order to engage today’s students. She is also the co-author of The Ultimate Guide to Teaching Macroeconomics(W.W. Norton) and the Digital Implementation Guide for Mankiw’s Principles of Economics(Cengage), which are instructional resources for teaching economists.
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Tawni H.
Ferrarini
Faculty
Tawni H. Ferrarini is the Robert W. Plaster Professor of Economic Education at Lindenwood University in Saint Charles, Missouri. She is National Association of Economic Educators’ 2020 Patricia Elder International Economic Educator and served as NAEE’s 2015 president. Other accolades include: the inaugural recipient of the NAEE’s Abbejean Kehler Award, 2009 Michigan Economic Educator of the Year Award, and a 2009 Distinguished Faculty at Northern Michigan University.
Professor Ferrarini has written curriculum materials for the Council on Economic Education and EconEdLink. She specializes in the use of technology in the classroom and the integration of economics and American history. She was instrumental in helping to formally establish the Council on Economic Education – Japan and is a consultant for the Korea Development Institute in Seoul.
Professor Ferrarini publishes in economic education, technology, and education journals and has authored several books. She earned her doctorate in economics from Washington University, where she studied economic history under the 1993 Nobel Laureate, Douglass C. North.
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Ken R.
King
Faculty
Ken King is the past Executive Director of Consumer Credit Counseling Service and Family Service Association of Sheboygan, WI. Ken was the first Certified Consumer Credit Counselor in the State of Wisconsin; has served 10 years as a Trustee of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC), was instrumental in the formation of and is the secretary of the Wisconsin Jumpstart Coalition, an avid supporter of Money Smart Week – Wisconsin and a true consumer advocate.
Ken served as an adjunct instructor at Lakeshore Technical College for over 20 years teaching data processing, accounting, and economics, has done corporate sales training and coaching for businesses, curriculum development and taught classes for the National Institute for Financial and Economic Literacy, Credit Union National Association and the National Foundation for Credit Counseling. He has worked with Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions, University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, and various Veterans groups throughout the State of Wisconsin. He has contributed to 10 books as well as assisting in the development of counselor certification programs of both CUNA and the NFCC. He has trained credit counselors and financial wellness coaches from around the United States.
In February of 2015, Ken was recognized by the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions and Governor Walker with the Governor’s Financial Literacy Legacy Award for his work and commitment to financial education in the State of Wisconsin, in his community and the work place.
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William C.
Wood
Executive Editor & Contributor
William Wood is Professor of Economics and Director of the Center for Economic Education at James Madison University. Dr. Wood received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Virginia in 1980 and has held faculty positions at Vanderbilt University, the University of Virginia and at Bridgewater College. Dr. Wood was the recipient of teaching awards at the University of Virginia and at James Madison University, where he was the 2001-2002 Distinguished Teacher in the College of Business. He was recognized in 2002 as an inaugural winner of the Southern Economic Association’s Kenneth G. Elzinga Distinguished Teaching Award.
Professor Wood has been named to the Great Teachers Series of the Gus A. Stavros Center for the Advancement of Free Enterprise and Economic Education at Florida State University. He is also a past recipient of the Alpha Kappa Psi - Clifford D. Spangler award for research in risk and insurance, as well as the Best Paper award for the Journal of Private Enterprise.
Dr. Wood has authored five books, more than 40 scholarly articles, and national economic education materials for school and adult audiences, including the 2nd edition of the supplemental high school textbook Economic Episodes in American History.
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