Jonathan Hamilton new Southern Economic Association president-elect

Gainesville, Fla. – In November, Jonathan Hamilton, R. Perry Frankland professor and Department of Economics chair, officially became president-elect (and program chair) of the Southern Economic Association for 2008. He will assume the role of president in 2009.

Eugenia Toma of the University of Kentucky, past president of the Association and chair of the Nominating Committee, said, “Jonathan Hamilton has been a key behind-the-scene leader in the Southern Economic Association for the past decade. His role in the organization’s success has now been formally recognized with his election to the office of President for 2008.”

The Southern Economic Association is one of the oldest regional economics associations in the U.S., dating back to a conference held in Atlanta in November 1928. The Warrington College of Business Administration has a history intertwined with the SEA. Walter Matherly, the College’s first dean, was one of the founders and its first president (the only other UF faculty member to have served as president was John McFerrin). The Southern Economic Journal began publication in 1933 and is the eighth oldest American scholarly journal in economics. Hamilton served as editor of the Journal from January 1997 to July 2003; he is currently associate editor.

From its founding, the purpose of the Southern Economic Association has been to further the education of scholars and the public in economic affairs. The SEA website features a quote from a history of the organization written in 1940 by Walter Matherly: “While it is regional in its membership, its interests as well as its annual programs extend beyond the region which it serves and encompass the nation.” Although the annual conference is always held in a Southern location and most of the editors of the Journal work at Southern institutions, the SEA annual conference and the Journal welcome submissions from all fields of economic research and from economists around the world.