The faculty and staff of the Center for State and Local Finance (CSLF) would like to extend our congratulations to our graduating fellows! Although the COVID-19 pandemic has changed much of our lives and a traditional graduation ceremony is not possible at this time, we are still celebrating our exceptional research and administrative fellows who have worked with us over the past year or two.
Of the 5,000 Georgia State University graduates this spring, six master’s students have been a part of our team, assisting in most aspects of the center’s work from our executive education program to many of our research projects. Our graduates are:
- Aaron Childree, Master of Public Policy
- David Copeland, Master of Arts in Economics
- Ebney Ayaj Rana, Master of Public Policy
- Emily Holden, Master of Arts in Economics
- Katherine Townsend, Master of Arts in Economics
- Keith Jacobi, Master of Public Administration
“Through our Public Finance Fellowship, we offer graduate students interested in state and a local public finance a place to get hands-on experience in the field,” said Jorge Martinez-Vazquez, director of CSLF and the Andrew Young School’s Public Finance Research Cluster. “This year’s team has been excellent, and they have assisted on several high-level research projects. Some are headed off to PhD programs at Cornell University and others secured great positions right here in Atlanta, like at the Federal Reserve. I think all of the CSLF team wants to say thank you for all of their hard work. They all have bright futures ahead of them, and we look forward to seeing where they go.”
We are also proud that the fellows found their time with us to be a rewarding experience:
Alex Hathaway, CSLF research associate and former research fellow, said, “Our public finance fellows have an experience like no other. I was one before I graduated and joined the team full-time, and I can’t think of another place where you are treated like a full-time researcher or team member off the bat. The center sets high expectations by treating their fellows like any seasoned researcher, but the fellows get so much real-world experience out of it. They regularly have their names on published research, and the ones that go on to a PhD get into great programs.” Hathaway added, “I am grateful for everything the fellows accomplished this year—all the projects they worked on and flexibility they showed. They were all really a pleasure to work with.”
Some projects our fellows worked on this past year are highlighted below, covering only a fraction their work with the center:
