The history of the State University of New York at Buffalo Department of Economics, 1917--2000: The rise and fall of the once promising department

This dissertation traces the history of the once promising Department of Economics at the State University of New York at Buffalo. The case study of the Economics Department was researched as a result of recently published articles that discussed the decline in academic economic professionals and the historical under representation of minorities in the profession. The research done for this study showed how the study of political science was developed and later became the professional social science of economics in U.S. Higher education. Particularly, this case study examined the development of the history of the department of Economics at the University of Buffalo, both as a private and public institution. The Department of Economics at UB was among the top nationally ranked departments in the 1970s. In the 1980s chaos among the men that were the status quo, the department faculty members and the university administrators created the demise from within. The department lost its national ranking. The divisions and disagreements prevented the department from changing in ways that were reflective of changes needed to mirror the change in social conditions. The department has not diversified the teaching faculty, has historically excluded minorities as both students and faculty, and hence has failed at any attempts of affirmative action. This dissertation examined the Department of Economics at the University of Buffalo from 1917 to 2000.