Awards

Lieber Memorial Associate Instructor Award - 1999

About John J. Cadigan

Economists pay attention to the bottom line. And the bottom line on John Cadigan's performance as an associate instructor is that his students learn "an extraordinary amount of economics." Phillip Saunders, an IUB economics professor, used that phrase in nominating Cadigan for the Lieber Associate Instructor Award. As evidence, Saunders cited the section-by-section breakdown of the final exam grades of students in introductory microeconomics and macroeconomics classes.

The department keeps track of scores that students earn on the common part of the final exam. In three of the five semesters that Cadigan has taught the courses, the average score earned by his students was higher than the average scores of students in any other section of the class. Another time, his students ranked second.

One technique that Cadigan uses to keep open the lines of communication with his students is to have them write "one-minute papers" at the end of each class period. In the papers, students are asked to list the point from the class they understood the best, as well as the one that they understood the least and to raise a question about the material that was covered.

Last year, Cadigan was chosen as the Outstanding Introductory Economics Associate Instructor, was selected for the Teaching Excellence Recognition Award bestowed by the Trustees of Indiana University, and received the Outstanding Teacher/Scholar Fellowship from the College of Arts and Sciences.