Faculty Notes

Auerbach testifies before U.S. House committee
LBJ School Professor Robert D. Auerbach testified before the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services on March 5 in Washington, D.C. Called upon by Congressman Bernie Sanders, Auerbach appeared at a hearing held by the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit regarding the proposed Business Checking Freedom Act.

If passed, this bill would authorize the Federal Reserve to pay interest on reserves of private banks that are deposited at the Federal Reserve. According to Professor Auerbach’s estimates, this legislation would grant banks $16.7 billion of government guaranteed perpetual annuity yielding $1 billion a year. Auerbach testified that most of the annuity would be reflected in a rise in the stock price of larger banks and would have little benefit for smaller banks or consumers.

Rodríguez named UT graduate studies interim dean
Since December, when she was appointed to serve as UT Austin interim dean of graduate studies, LBJ School Professor Victoria Rodríguez has assumed new responsibilities. Although she continues to serve as vice provost for institutional initiatives, she has accepted new duties, serving on this year’s President’s Promotion and Tenure Committee, for instance.

Last fall, Rodríguez was selected by Hispanic Business magazine as one of the nation’s “100 Most Influential Hispanics in 2002.” The list appeared in the magazine’s October issue.

Gamkhar promoted
LBJ School Assistant Professor Shama Gamkhar has been promoted to associate professor, a tenured position that will officially take effect in September 2003.

Gamkhar, who has a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Maryland at College Park, teaches public financial management and political economy courses on microeconomics, environmental economic policy, and public finance. She joined the LBJ School faculty in fall 1996.

Her most recent publication is a book entitled Federal Intergovernmental Grants and the States: Managing Devolution, released in 2002 by Edward Elgar Publishing, Inc.

Eaton works on homeland security, educational pacts
David J. Eaton, who is the Bess Harris Jones Centennial Professor in Natural Resource Policy Studies, has been involved in a number of activities this year.

On one front, he has been studying the potential risks of terrorist activity along the U.S.-Mexico border and how border communities can become better prepared to respond to incidents of chemical and biological weapons attacks.

In April, with support from the Institute for Advanced Technology, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the U.S. Department of State, Eaton organized a simulated terrorist attack on the border and evaluated the results in order to strengthen cross-border city-to-city agreements and agreements between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Mexico’s Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT—Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales).

On another front, Eaton has been working with eight Canadian, Mexican, and U.S. universities to develop nonprofit studies and graduate student exchanges. This project is under the auspices of the RGK Center for Philanthropy and Community Service and is supported by the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Ministry of Education of Mexico, and the Ministry of Human Resources of Canada.

Robles shares expertise on Hispanic policy issues
LBJ School Professor Bárbara Robles traveled to Washington, D.C., and Canada during the fall to share her expertise on Hispanic issues with high-profile members of the business, academic, government, and legal communities.

A member of the Board of Economists for Hispanic Business, Inc., Robles was invited to discuss Latino electoral trends in California, Texas, New York, and Florida at the U.S. Hispanic Economic Summit, which took place in Washington. In its fifth year, the summit is sponsored by Hispanic Business magazine and was hosted by the Inter-American Development Bank.

Robles also presented a paper entitled “Latina Microenterprise along the U.S.-Mexico Border” at a conference in Canada that explored NAFTA and other trade issues. The conference took place in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and was coordinated by the Estey Center for Law and Economics in International Trade, an independent think tank.

Robles is a member of the U.S. Hispanic Congressional Advisory Council, which briefs members of the Hispanic Congressional Caucus on issues pertaining to NAFTA and how they affect the Latino community in the United States.

Gavin writes new books
A book written by Professor Frank Gavin on post-World War II international monetary relations will be released this fall.

The book uses recently declassified documents from both the United States and Europe and is being published by the University of North Carolina Press as part of its new Cold War History Series. The book is called Gold, Dollars, and Power: The Politics of International Monetary Relations, 1958-1971.

Gavin is also working on a second book that will reassess nuclear strategy and arms control during the Cold War through a series of thematic essays that connect the past with the present.

A sabbatical sponsored through a prestigious fellowship from the Smith Richardson Foundation has allowed Gavin to devote himself to these projects.

Tom Keel retires
Thomas M. Keel, a former Texas legislative budget director who joined the LBJ School faculty in 1990 as a lecturer in public affairs, will retire at the end of July. After his retirement, Keel plans to work half time beginning in September.

Before coming to the LBJ School, Keel had been involved in public administration for many years. He joined the Legislative Budget Board (LBB) in 1955 as a budget examiner and became legislative budget director in 1967, serving in that capacity for 15 years. After leaving the LBB in 1982, he worked for the UT System as executive director for finance and administration.

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May 5, 2003
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