Assistant Professor of Economics Israt Jahan, was born and brought up in Bangladesh. She completed her undergraduate and master’s degrees at the University of Dhaka, where she majored in economics.
“I found that economics was a good mixture of my expertise and also my interests, so I got enrolled into economics,” Jahan said.
She added, “I was born and brought up in a developing country and saw socio-economic conditions of people and the challenges they face, so I was interested in how I could contribute to the growth and development of an economy”
Before coming to the University of Wisconsin La-Crosse, Jahan worked for a research organization in Bangladesh for three years. She then moved to Italy to pursue another master’s degree in labor economics.
During her time in Italy, Jahan applied and obtained approval for a doctor in philosophy (Ph.D.) in economics from Texas Tech University. At Texas Tech, she got the opportunity to teach Applied Business Economics and Agricultural Statistics.
Jahan said that when she was applying for jobs in Texas, she found UWL and looked through the university’s requirements, culture, weather and departments. She liked how the departments collaborated with each other for research and how much smaller the classes were than at Texas Tech University or other larger institutions.
“This is an opportunity to actually be in here and I love being in here. I love UWL,” said Jahan.
Jahan teaches data analysis for business and international economics. She initially taught introduction to microeconomics as well. Beyond teaching, Jahan also does surveys and research. “I am very dedicated to my research, and I spend my time on research for publications,” she said.
When asked about the challenges of managing her workload, Jahan stated that it was not difficult. She continued, “If you’re motivated and you love what you do, you’ll actually get time for that.”
What Jahan values most about working at UWL are her colleagues and the students. “I find it motivating when I walk into my 7:45 a.m. class, and it’s full,” Jahan said. “Attendance is not mandatory, but my class is full.” She continued, “I can seek help from my colleagues at UWL, in my college or in my department.”
Jahan emphasizes that while grades are important, not everything revolves around them. “I do a lot of practices in the class. In the anonymous mid-semester surveys in class, every student says that the class practices are helpful,” she said.
“When I talk about each material, I ask them to relate with real-life examples like why the oil price is high,” said Jahan. “They can discuss about any real-life scenario that’s going on.”
“My intention is that they [students] learn how to learn. If they can get at least something out of my class that would be very very satisfying for me,” said Jahan. “I teach them how they can learn better; this is my target.”
