ECONOMICS FACULTY MEMBER REINVENTS HERSELF
Last spring Associate Professor of Economics Laura Ullrich faced an auditorium of seniors ready to wrap up their high school years and eager to move on to Winthrop. She enticed them about the future saying they could reinvent themselves while at college.
She explained that she has done the same thing as a Winthrop professor.
Ullrich once thought her Ph.D. in economics and background in state and local taxation likely meant she would only work in that field during her academic career. She says now that was a very limiting viewpoint, and she has grown because she is willing to take risks.
“Winthrop has been good about letting me try out different classes and projects,” said Ullrich, who has blossomed professionally since her arrival at Winthrop in 2007.
In winning the 2014 James Pinckney Kinard and Lee Wicker Kinard Award for Excellence in Teaching, Ullrich was cited for a wide range of experiences in teaching and research projects where she also involved her students. Due to her scholarship efforts, she has been invited to present at several conferences with the prestigious Lincoln Land Policy Institute in Boston.
She served as a Fulbright Scholar to teach economics in Kosovo in 2014 and stood out because she juggled her duties there along with taking care of her three sons who traveled with her. The Fulbright organization asked her to speak to other scholars on balancing her work and her home life at
their recent orientation in Washington, D.C.
During summer 2013 and this summer, Ullrich was involved in microfinance projects, traveling to Bolivia with student groups to award South American entrepreneurs start- up money to pursue their business ventures.
She considered the trips a huge success because the students grew as business professionals and citizens of the world while truly making a difference in the lives of others. “They showed hundreds of people the spirit and generosity of Winthrop University and the local businesses and individuals that supported the trips,” Ullrich said.
She also worked with a consulting group on two complementary studies on how the completion of Dave Lyle Boulevard from Rock Hill to U.S. 521 would provide unparalleled economic opportunity for York and Lancaster counties. One study focused on market access, while the latest one described the economic impacts to York and Lancaster counties related to construction activity and changes in land use. The possible extension of Dave Lyle Boulevard has been a topic of community discussion since at least the 1990s.
Ullrich was recently promoted to join the College of Business Administration’s leadership team as assistant dean for innovation and productivity. Dean Roger Weikle said she will work on helping to make the college better prepared for dealing with the changes in the higher education environment and will look for additional efficiencies.
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