By Terra Aquia, ACRE Program Coordinator
During the legislative session ACRE staff are frequently focused on bills and testifying before committee. But our dedication to education and outreach to students is a pillar of ACRE’s mission and presents opportunities for student involvement year-round.
Recently, ACRE Policy Analyst Dr. Joyce Ajayi and ACRE Program Coordinator Terra Aquia lad an ACRE-sponsored travel opportunity to the Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis. Four UCA students from the UCA College of Business (Madison Peyton, 
Sophomore Economics Major; Brenna Dobson, Junior Data Analytics Major; Sydney Klein, Freshman Marketing Major; and Mariah Manning, Sophomore Economics Major) attended the Women in Economics Symposium. This annual symposium began in 2018 at the St. Louis Fed, along with the Women in Economics Podcast Series with the goal of connecting young women with accomplished women in the economics profession.
At the 2023 symposium, speaker Stephanie Aaronson, a Senior Associate Director, Division of Research and Statistics for the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and Daryl Fairweather, Chief Economist at Redfin, shared personal experiences of studying economics and then learning where they wanted to apply their knowledge in the workplace. They answered several questions from student attendees about graduate and PhD programs, finding entry level positions in economics fields, what skills and talents to highlight, and how to navigate salary negotiations.
The student trip to the Women in Economics symposium is just one of the many ACRE programs for UCA students. ACRE sponsors a
variety of university student programming to create engaging learning experiences for students and discuss economic ideas in a variety of academic settings. UCA business students can participate in the ACRE Cubs & Biz@Bear programs right from their residence halls. Every semester students from all UCA majors participate in ACRE Reading Groups where students meet weekly to discuss economics readings and topics. Students who excel in ACRE programs often apply for an ACRE Research Fellowship where they work with a faculty mentor to produce real, publishable research in topics related to ACRE’s mission such as occupational licensing, taxes, government spending, and more. For more information about any of ACRE’s university student programs, please visit https://uca.edu/acre/undergraduate-research-fellows/ or reach us by email at acre@uca.edu.