Spencer F. Eccles Convocation

Randal Quarles gave the Spencer Fox Eccles Convocation at the DESB a couple of weeks ago. Quarles is a really accomplished and interesting guy (Undersecretary of the Treasury in the Bush administration), and he was kind enough to meet with a small group of students and faculty prior to the Convocation speech. It was great to get an insider's view of the US Treasury Department.

If you missed the big speech, it's here....

Quarles dropped a book recommendation that I've added to my reading list. It's Robert Rubin's In An Uncertain World. (Link below, and all "affiliate" proceeds to the Utah Food Bank, as usual). Quarles described it as the best book ever written by a Treasury Secretary --- Rubin served under President Clinton --- and this seems like pretty high praise. I'll try to report back after I get through it.



I told Quarles to go read Nature's Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West, which might be the best book ever written by anyone (Treasury Secretary or not).

Textbooks

Sorry for the long blog-pause. The fall term teaching really did me in.

At least some lessons seem to have sunk in, for I am guessing one of my students commented on this article in the Utah Daily Chronicle:

Good education worth high textbook prices

Well said!