Department Resources

Free tutoring is available to students during the following times. The ECON tutors are available to help students understand economics concepts but cannot assist with homework assignments.

Fall 2025 Tutor: Matthew Landrum

Matthew Landrum will be holding in-person and online office hours . The in-person office is located in the Arts and Sciences Building, Language Resource Center Room 240 on the second floor. Office hours are:

11-12:30 PM Tuesdays and Thursdays

and virtual by appointment

Email: 

The Valpo chapter of Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE), which is now known as Enactus, captured the Rookie of the Year and First Runner-up awards on their first trip to the organization’s regional competition in Chicago in 2004. Later, Valpo-SIFE clinched the regional title in Chicago.

Valpo-SIFE members not only taught computer skills to senior citizens but also provided in-home computing help. Other activities included organizing seminars on entrepreneurship, personal finance, and identity theft. Elementary school students benefited from their presentations on market economics and business. Creative business plans were developed for local businesses.

While the local community reaped the benefits of services provided by Valpo SIFE members, an international outreach to fledgling entrepreneurs in developing countries also advanced through Valpo SIFE’s networking efforts with Kiva.

Kiva is an organization that connects people who live in underprivileged areas and want loans to people who desire to fund the projects. As potential lenders browse Kiva’s website (kiva.org), they choose someone to lend to, then make a small loan in the amount of $25-$100 using PayPal. Kiva restricts loan amounts, so no one person has sole control over an entrepreneur.

“For example, you have a person who would like to start a business selling firewood, and they need money to buy a cart to haul it to market,” explains Jaishankar Raman, Ph.D., associate professor of economics and SIFE advisor. “It’s a way to get loan sharks out of the picture.”

Professor Raman was first introduced to Kiva two years ago when he saw it on “Frontline,” a PBS documentary. He began using it in his economic development class. He put $100 in, and the class picked three projects. Each month, they revisit their investment to check the status. When the loan is repaid, they reinvest in another.

“These are hard-working people who don’t want to cheat you,” Professor Raman said.

It has become a family tradition for Professor Raman’s sons, Shyam, 9, and Sunjay, 6, to choose from Kiva’s list of entrepreneurs to receive a portion of their birthday money, donated by mom and dad. They have the joy of knowing their money is going to improve someone’s life. Their first Kiva loan has been repaid, and they are excited about choosing another.

Omicron Delta Epsilon is an international academic honor society that was created through the merger of two honor societies, Omicron Delta Gamma and Omicron Chi Epsilon Omicron Delta Epsilon.  Omnicron Delta Epsilon recognizes scholastic attainment and the honoring of outstanding achievements in economics.

Omicron Delta Gamma (The Order of Artus) was founded in 1915 by John R. Commons, University of Wisconsin and Frank Taussig, Harvard University.

Omicron Chi Epsilon was founded in 1955 by Alan A. Brown while he was a student at the City College of New York.

Omicron Delta Epsilon has over 696 chapters located in the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Puerto Rico, South Africa, Egypt, and France, Kazakhstan and United Arab Emirates.

The requirements for admission for undergraduates are:

• Completion of at least 12 credit hours of economics courses with a GPA of 3.0 or higher in all economics classes
• Attainment of an overall GPA of 3.0 or higher
• A student does not need to be an economics major to apply, but the student must have a genuine interest in economics in addition to meeting the above requirements.

Pi Gamma Mu‘s mission is to encourage and recognize superior scholarship in social science disciplines and to foster cooperation and social service among its members. Pi Gamma Mu serves the various social science disciplines which seek to understand and explain human behavior and social relationships as well as their related problems and issues. Currently, there are around 150 active chapters in the United States and overseas.

Pi Gamma Mu’s constitution defines the social sciences to include the disciplines of history, political science, sociology, anthropology, economics, psychology, international relations, criminal justice, social work, social philosophy, history of education, and cultural/human geography. Membership is also extended to interdisciplinary social science areas that build on the core social science disciplines, such as business and society, education, minority studies, public administration, international studies, public finance, leadership studies, consumer behavior, public policy and organizational behavior.

The requirements for admission for undergraduates are:  

• Completion of at least twenty semester hours/credits in the Social Sciences;
• having an average grade of “B” or better in all Social Sciences courses;
• Students need not have a major or minor in the Social Sciences to qualify for membership.