Illinois State picks Aslihan Spaulding as interim chair of economics department

Illinois State University has appointed Aslihan Spaulding as interim chair of the institution’s department of economics.

She first joined the department of agriculture at Illinois State in 2003, and has worked in multiple roles including as graduate program coordinator and study abroad coordinator. 

Spaulding’s research interests include survey methodology, farmer and consumer behavior and strategic agribusiness sales management. In 2021 she contributed to a national team that received a five-year, $10 million grant from the Department of Agriculture to study resilience and diversity in midwestern agriculture.

Recently, she was elected to serve on the board of directors of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.

Spaulding received her Ph.D. in agricultural economics from the University of Kentucky. She started work in the interim role on August 1.