A Week In The Life of Professor Mark D. Robbins

September 23, 2020

View from  a professor’s desk, week of September 21, 2020. With added notes by our Outreach Coordinator Lian.

For many faculty fall is conference season. Early in the spring many of our regular conferences were cancelled or postponed, only to be resurrected later in various forms, in some cases cascading on top of each other in scheduling. Everyone can attend every conference if they are virtual, right??

stuffed animal bunny on a windowsill with a dollar bill as a bow tie
2020 Money Bunny

Here is a quick snapshot of what the rest of my week looks like.

Wednesday

  • 6:30-9PM Public Investment Management (special guest Diane Diaz superstar alumni at Deutsche Bank).
    • Diane is the Vice President of Municipal Credit Research
    • Do you know about the money bunny? Each semester, the student with the highest performing investment portfolio wins the coveted “Money Bunny” award.
  •  9PM: NASPAA panel chairman “International Programs, shared and joint degrees.”
    • Did you know the Department of Public Policy (DPP) is the only Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration (NASPAA) accredited program in Connecticut?

    Thursday

    Robbins' in Mandarin
    Professor Robbins’ schedule in Mandarin
    • 2-4:30 PM: Public Finance and Budgeting –The budget spreadsheet edition! (Woo)
      • You can take PP 5364 Public Finance and Budgeting with Professor Robbins in the Spring!
    • 4:30 PM: Association for Budgeting and Financial Management (ABFM) Awards presentation.
      • Every year the DPP sends multiple faculty members to ABFM’s annual conference. This year the conference is virtual!
    • 6:30 PM: Public Financial Publications, Inc. Board Meeting
    • 9:00 PM – 4 AM: Asian Association of Public Administration (APPA), annual conference
      • Did you know Professor Robbins has lectured in China? He was a Visiting Research Fellow at Fudan University in Shanghai, China in 2018 and 2019.

    Friday

    • 9PM: Opening address. “Green Development and Urban Governance” Conference, Sichuan University, Chengdu China
    • 10PM: Research presentation “Subnational government responses to Covid-19 Recession in USA”

    Saturday

    • 9AM ABFM research presentation: State Government Responses to Covid-19 Recession.

    Looks like caffeine season for me. Can’t wait to chat about all of it with some of you in my classes! – Professor Mark D. Robbins