Department of Economics

Engage in Econ

photo of students with speaker - all making a w with their hands

Engage in Econ is an Undergraduate Academic Advising Office & Econ Career Development Office organized set of professional development experiences for undergraduates declared in Economics. This innovative, in-house program provides interested students with resources to develop their academic & professional skills and build community to enhance their UW experience and network. Study habits, mentorship, career exploration, and organization involvement are only some of the multitude of opportunities! By fulfilling all the requirements of the program (see below), a student will be included in the Chair’s List for that semester. Students who receive this designation on the Chair’s List are considered to be leaders within the Department of Economics and receive an exciting list of benefits. Read on for more information about the eligibility, requirements, and benefits of the Engage in Econ program!

Program Requirements

Engage in Econ (EE) is a program to promote and support our most engaged students in their professional development journey. Participating students will connect with other economics majors and advisors through undergraduate Econ-hosted programming, geared toward developing deeper understandings of current success in economics and post-graduation outcomes. To maintain good status in the program, students must accumulate a minimum of 4 Engage Credits each semester. Engage Credits can be earned by participating in special community-building learning events and Economics-hosted programming. Engage Credits are not academic/course credits and will not appear on your transcript.

By the end of each semester, students must have earned a minimum of 3 Engage Credits for Spring2026 term.
One engage credit is awarded each semester for completing each item below. 

1. Maintaining membership in any Dept of Economics Students Organization or Group.
Registered econ student groups and organizations include:

2. Attend “Excel for Econ” data training with Elizabeth Foste
Play around with cleaning, analyzing, and visualizing data in this one-hour workshop to get hands on experience of what Economists use data for…learning some new Excel tips along the way!
Wednesday, February 25th at 3:30PM in Microbial Sciences 1520

3. Attend “Exam Prep for Econ Students” Workshop with GUTS
A collaboration with GUTS and Study Space tutoring to best learn how to prepare for upcoming exams in Economics undergraduate life!
Wednesday, March 4th at 5:30PM in Social Sciences 7142

4. Attend “Internship Preparation for F-1 Students”  workshop 
Are you an international undergrad student applying for internships or planning to in the future? Do you have an internship upcoming, and are looking for ways to maximize your experience and grow your professional skills? Join our workshop with Econ Academic and Career staff, and hear from a panel of current Econ international students who have had successful internship experiences!
ONLINE, Friday, March 6 at 12PM

4. Attend “How did you do it? Finding Research in Economics as an UGRD” workshop
Learn from your fellow excellent peers in the Undergraduate Economics program to discover their way to research! Classes, professors, even attitudes(!), and more in this casual, interactive panel
Friday, March 13th  at 1PM in Social Sciences 8417

5. Attend “Options & Reflections in Research Post-Graduation”  panel with PhD & WIDE members from the Dept of Economics
Learn from a current PhD student panel regarding research opportunities & how to find them…and more importantly, how use them as a tool to self-explore what you want to do post-graduation!
Thursday, March 19th at 5PM in Social Sciences 4308

6. Present or Attend the Honors Symposium or Undergraduate Symposium
If you are presenting (submission details here or here) or attending the symposium to share or learn about your peers’ research, you will earn an Engage in Econ credit! You will earn 2 engage credits if you attend/present both.
Submit your 1) presentation confirmation or 2) two paragraph reflection write up of what you learned by attending this symposium(s) to econadvise@ssc.wisc.edu by April 20th, 2026
Undergraduate Symposium: Friday, April 17th, 2026 @ Union South and Discovery Building (all day)
Senior Honors Thesis Symposium:  Friday, April 24th, 2026 @ Union South Discovery Building (1-4PM)

Bucky Badger poses in front of Witte Residence Hall as they prepare for new student move-in

Program Benefits

Students will be recognized with a public spot on the Department of Economics Chair’s List should they meet program requirements at the end of each semester.  Students are encouraged to include this designation on their resume each semester they are on the Chair’s List (example resume here). Additional benefits include:

  • Building community with other econ majors and with the Dept of Economics
  • Learn about academic and career pathways to success within economics
  • Name featured on the Dept of Economics Chair’s List website
  • Students on the Chair’s List will receive special recognition at the Dept of Economics Graduation Ceremony

Past Recipients

Congratulations to Chair’s List students for the following semesters:

Eligibility and Registration

The opportunity to be included in the Engage in Econ program, earning a spot on the Chair’s List, is open to any declared undergraduate economics major. Attendance and participation are tracked throughout the semester and all students who earn at least 4 Engage Credits in a semester will receive this designation. Credits must be earned within a semester and cannot roll over semester to semester. There are no “make up” options and only students who meet the minimum requirements (4 Engage Credits) will qualify.

Next steps are easy! Just attend our events listed above! You will be asked to sign in at each event with your campus ID number. This sign in will give you one Engage Credit per attended event/involvement in Econ.

Questions about this program can be directed to Econ advisors at econadvise@ssc.wisc.edu