By Kaylen Ayres ’25
Alice Kassens, Roanoke College’s John S. Shannon Professor of Economics, was a guest on the Dec. 20 episode of “Inside Economics,” a podcast produced by Moody’s Analytics. Kassens said she has been an avid listener of the podcast since her husband introduced her to it, and she incorporates it into her course plans.
Kassens is the author of “More Cowbell: Using Inside Economics to Promote Data Literacy and Camaraderie,” which garnered the attention of the podcast. After making connections on LinkedIn, she was invited to talk about economics and explain how she incorporates the podcast into her course on labor economics.
Kassens noted that listening to the podcast helps to improve her students’ data literacy. For one assignment, she even had them create a mock podcast. She also explained the cowbell reference in her book title.
“If someone did something really great, whether it’s answering a question in class or being inducted into PBK [Phi Beta Kappa], we would ring the cowbell for them,” Kassens said. “We were all supporting each other. It started getting really fun and enjoyable and built this great environment and camaraderie.”
You can listen to the full podcast here.
