First-Year Academic Gathering

The First-Year Academic Gathering marks the start of the academic year in a coming together of the Fairfield University community to welcome new students. This year, the First-Year Academic Gathering took place on Wednesday, September 7, 2022.

Kathryn A. Nantz, PhD, Professor of Economics

Dr. Nantz is professor of economics in the Dolan School of Business. She received her undergraduate degree from Western Kentucky University in her hometown of Bowling Green, Kentucky and her master’s degree and PhD from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, all in economics. Her research interests are in the areas of labor economics and comparative economic systems. Through her recent research projects Dr. Nantz has explored the market and community value of the GED to immigrant women, as well as the issue of academic honesty in Eastern Europe.

Dr. Nantz has been involved in a variety of grant-funded projects, nationally and internationally, that have provided faculty development workshops in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Ukraine. She also helped to write a series of grants that provided seed money for Fairfield’s Center for Academic Excellence and other strategic initiatives. Dr. Nantz teaches classes in applied microeconomics and was awarded the College of Arts and Sciences Teaching Award in 2009 for her work in the classroom. She is a board member and former president of the international honor society for economists, Omicron Delta Epsilon, and also the faculty advisor for Fairfield’s chapter. Dr. Nantz loves to ski and travel and is an avid reader of any mystery series featuring quirky crime-solving detectives.