Home > About > Faculty Profiles > Jan E. Christopher, MA, MBA, PhD

Jan E. Christopher, MA, MBA, PhD

jan christopherAssociate Professor
212C Bank of America Building
302.857.6914
jchristopher [at] desu.edu

Dr. Jan E. Christopher received her Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Hampton University in 1980; her Master’s degree in Political Science (Public Policy) from the University of Rochester in 1982; her M.B.A. degree from the University of Oklahoma in 1984; and her Ph.D. in Economics from Howard University in 1993. She is considered to be both an academically and professionally qualified economist, having the Economist 110 job classification rating with the Federal government. Dr. Christopher has been a staff analyst, program/project analyst, economic analyst, and market specialist working in the fields of finance, urban economics, statistics and public policy for over 25 years.  She is presently an Associate Professor of Economics in the Department of Accounting, Economics and Finance in the College of Business at Delaware State University. She was appointed as a tenure-track assistant professor at Delaware State University in 1994 and has served as the Chair of the Department of Economics and Acting Chair of the Department of Business Administration. Between 1998 and 2003 she received several U.S. Department of Transportation-Federal Highway Administration research grants under the major category of On-the-Job Training-Supportive Services. She has previously served as a Distinguished Visiting Professor of Economics and Geography at the U.S. Air Force Academy (1996-97) and as a Distinguished Visiting Professor of Leadership and Management at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy (2003-2004).  She was also the Director of the Delaware State University Summer Transportation Institute between 1998 and 2003 and again in 2008.  Dr. Christopher’s government career as a researcher has been with such agencies as the Office of Economic Research, Office of Advocacy, U.S. Small Business Administration; her dissertation research was conducted through the Research and Statistics Division, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System; she worked as an Economic Analyst (Finance) and Analyst in Regional Economic Development in the Industry Analysis and Transportation Section of the Economics Division of the Congressional Research Service; and most recently as a Fixed-Income Market Specialist with the Bureau of the Public Debt, Office of Financing (Washington, DC) of the U.S. Department of the Treasury (2004-2006).  She also has experience in the corporate sector as a Quality and Reliability Staff Analyst III and Program/Project Analyst with Rockwell International Corporation, North American Aircraft Operations prior to it being sold to Boeing Integrated Defense Systems in 1996. In December of 2009, she completed the Pre-Demonstration Evaluation Research Study for a grant funded by the U.S. Department of Justice. And in March 2012, she completed the Methodology and Analysis Research Report for the Texas Regional Opportunity Index funded by the Ford Foundation through the Howard University Center on Race and Wealth and the Center for Public Policy Priorities, Austin, TX. Dr. Jan E. Christopher serves in the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority FINRA® Neutral Dispute Resolution Arbitrator’s program. She conducted several pre-hearing conference calls (December 19, 2014 and January 22, 2015) to arbitrate several cases in San Juan, PR scheduled for May-March, 2018. Dr. Christopher has also served as an external reviewer for the Howard University Department of Economics; peer reviewer for the Review of Black Political Economy; the chair of the DSU Faculty Senate Finance Committee; a Chair of the Delaware State University Promotion and Tenure Committee (2015-16); and a member of the AACSB International Strategic Planning Committee for the Delaware State University College of Business (2010-2014).

Education

Ph.D Howard University, Washington, D.C. (1993), Economics (Urban Economics)
Dissertation Topic: “Minority Business Formation and Survival: An Exploration into Business Performance and Viability.”  Dissertation Advisor: Charles L. Betsey 

M.B.A. University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma (1984), Business Administration

M.A. University of Rochester, Rochester, New York (1982), Political Science 

B.A. Hampton University, Hampton, Virginia (1980), Economics

 

AMERICAN ECONOMIC ASSOCIATION (AEA) CONTINUING EDUCATION COURSES COMPLETED:

  • “Machine Language and Econometrics,” Philadelphia, PA, January 7-9, 2018.
  • “Microeconomics of Life Course Inequality,” San Francisco, CA, January 5-7, 2016
  • “Time Series Econometrics,” Boston, MA, January 5-7, 2015 
  • “Public Finance,” San Diego, CA, January 6-8, 2013 
  • “Cross-Section Econometrics,” Chicago, IL, January 8-10, 2012 
  • “New Developments in Fiscal and Monetary Policy,” Denver, CO, January 10-12, 2011 
  • “Cross-Section Econometrics,” San Francisco, CA, January 5-7, 2009

Research Interests/Area

  • Data Analytics
  • Financial Economics
  • Political Economy
  • Public Sector Economics
  • Transportation and Defense
  • Urban Economics

Professional Memberships

  • AAUP - American Association of University Professors (1994-Present)
  • AEA - American Economic Association (2009-Present)
  • NAP - National Association of Parliamentarians (2010-Present)
  • NEA - National Economics Association (1994-Present)
  • WEAI - Western Economic Association International (2009-Present)

Publications

  1. Thomas, Leela, Kenneth Wedel and Jan E. Christopher. 2018. “Access to Transportation and Health Care Visits for Medicaid Enrollees with Diabetes.” Journal of Rural Health, 34(2), Spring 2018, 117-222.  
  2. Dr. Jan E. Christopher of Delaware State University was cited asking questions during a Q&A, published by the Western Economic Association International in Currie, J. M. (2017, November 23). Questions and Answers – Inequality in Mortality Over the Life Course: Why things are not as bad as you think. Contemporary Economic Policy, 36(1), 5.
  3. C-SPAN. C-Span Video Library: a Digital Archive of C-Span Video, Created by Cable, Offered as a Public Service: National Cable Satellite Corporation, August 10, 2016.
  4. Christopher, Jan E. 2015. “The American Community Survey (ACS) Gini Index of Income Inequality: Evidence from Washington, D.C.” The Minority Report (The annual news of the AEA’s Committee on the Status of Minority Groups in the Economics Profession, the National Economic Association, and the American Society of Hispanic Economists), Issue 7, Winter 2015.
  5. Christopher, Jan E. 2012. “Low-Wage Worker Characteristics: Implications for Children in Poverty,” Forum on Public Policy, Vol. 2012, No. 1 (August 2012). 
  6. Christopher, Jan E.  2012. “The Texas Regional Opportunity Index Methodology and Preliminary Analysis:  The Development of Key Measurement Indicators to Assess Differences in Asset Building Outcomes Across Texas Counties.” Washington, D.C.: Howard   University, March 2012. 
  7. Christopher, Jan E. and Ram Gajavelli, “Do the Age and ABN_PAP Variables Influence whether the Three Doses of the GARDASIL Vaccine are Completed within the Prescribed Six Months.” Wilmington, DE:  Christiana Care Health Systems, July 2011.
  8. Christopher, Jan E. “Pre-Demonstration Evaluation: Credentialing, Scene Control and Evidence Security Study.”  Preliminary Final Report of the Mobile Crime Scene Development and Demonstration Project.  January 2010.  Final Report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice, May 2011.
  9. Christopher, Jan E. “Primary Dealers Commercial Involvement in Foreign Markets: Linkages between Securities Trading and the Global Banking Crisis,” 2009 Monograph Series of the National Association of African American Studies and Affiliates, Scarborough, Maine: NAAAS, 2009.  
  10. Christopher, Jan E. 2008. “An Approach to Alleviate Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa,” 2008 Monograph Series of the National Association of African American Studies and Affiliates, Scarborough, Maine: NAAAS, 2008. 
  11. Christopher, Jan E. “Office of Debt Management Handbook: A First Draft,” Report prepared for the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Office of Debt Management.  September 16, 2005.  32pp.
  12. Christopher, Jan E. “’Budget Deficits, National Saving, and Interest Rates’ by William G. Gale and Peter R. Orszag: A Survey,” Prepared for the U.S. Department of the Treasury, August, 29, 2005.
  13. Christopher, Jan E. “Decimalization in the U.S. Securities Markets,” report prepared for the Office of Debt Management, U.S. Department of the Treasury, July 2005.
  14. Christopher, Jan E. “Determinants of the Spread between Repo and Cash Management Bills: 1985-2004,” Washington, D.C.:  U.S. Department of the Treasury, February 2005. 10pp.
  15. Christopher, Jan E. “Determinants of the Spread between Repo and Cash Management Bills: Alternative Specification,” Washington, D.C.:  U.S. Department of the Treasury, February 2005. 11pp.
  16. Christopher, Jan E. “Determinants of the Spread between Repo and Cash Management Bills: 1995-2004,” Washington, D.C.:  U.S. Department of the Treasury, February 2005. 10pp.
  17. Christopher, Jan E. “Minority Business Formation and Survival: Evidence on Business Performance and Viability,” in Thomas D. Boston, ed., Leading Issues in Black Political Economy.  (New Brunswick, NJ: Transactions Publishers). 2002. 516 pp.
  18. Christopher, Jan E. “Systematic Linkages: Phase II Job Training, Workplace Support, and Placement Services for Welfare-to-Work Beneficiaries in Highway Construction and Technology Employment.”   Phase II Final Report presented to the Federal Highway Administration, Washington, D.C., January 2002.
  19. Christopher, Jan E. and Juliet U. Elu.  “Personal Finance and Portfolio Management Strategies.” https://www.biz.uiowa.edu/, written for the University of Iowa IEM*IDEA Project (Funded by the Fund for Improvement of Post-Secondary Education (FIPSE)). http://www.biz.uiowa.edu/.  September 2001.
  20. Christopher, Jan E. “Systematic Linkages: The Utilization of State Agencies for Job Training and Placement of Welfare-to-Work Beneficiaries in Highway Construction and Technology Careers.”  Phase I Final Report presented to the Federal Highway Administration, Washington, D.C., January 2001. 
  21. Christopher, Jan E. and Eric Rahimian.  “Federal Reserve Monetary Policy and the IEM” 2000.  www.biz.uiowa.edu/, written for the University of Iowa IEM*IDEA Project (Funded by the Fund for Improvement of Post-Secondary Education (FIPSE)). http://www.biz.uiowa.edu/.  
  22. Christopher, Jan E. “Minority Business Formation and Survival: Evidence on Business Performance and Viability.”  1998.  The Review of Black Political Economy, 25th Anniversary Special Issue.  Vol. 26, No. 1.  Summer 1998.
  23. Christopher, Jan E.  “Credit Availability and the Growth of Credit Card Lending.”  February, 1998. International Advances in Economic Research, Vol.4, No.1, p. 97.  
  24. Choices and Changes: Black Survival Series - Black Economic Development, Television Series.  Taped February 8, 1996.  Shown nationally.  (Video available upon request.)  
  25. Christopher, Jan E. “Minority Business Formation and Survival: A View on Differences in Business Participation across Minority Groups,” Mellon Foundation Seminars on Racial and Ethnic Economic Inequality.  The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  September, 1995.
  26. Contributor: 1993 State of Small Business: A Report of the President.  Office of Advocacy, U.S. Small Business Administration (Washington, D.C.: US GPO).
  27. Christopher, Jan E.  “The Economic Health of the Lower Mississippi River Valley.”  March 29, 1988.  38 p. (Congressional Research Service Report 88-253 E).
  28. Quoted as Jan E. Christopher of the Congressional Research Service in the Congressional Record, March 31, 1988, p. S3626: “The States of the lower Mississippi river valley region have a higher percentage of families, households, and individuals in poverty than any other section of the United States, despite major efforts to alleviate poverty.”
  29. Christopher, Jan E.  “States/Counties of the Lower Mississippi River Valley:  Statistics on Per Capita Personal Income and Unemployment Rates.”  March 29, 1988.  13p. (Congressional Research Service Report 88-254 E).
  30. Christopher, Jan E. “Regional Economic Development Programs of the Federal Government.”  August 25, 1988.  20p. (Congressional Research Service Report 88703 E).  
  31. Christopher, Jan E.  “Economic Redevelopment in the Cities.”  November 9, 1988.  29p. (Congressional Research Service Report 88-703 E).
  32. Christopher, Jan E.  “The ABCs of Public Venture Capital Investment.”  December 14, 1988.  12p. (Congressional Research Service Report 88-757 E).
  33. Christopher, Jan E. “State and Local Equity Capital Funds:  Selected Case Studies.”  December 14, 1988. 7 p. (Congressional Research Service Report 88-758 E).
  34. Christopher, Jan E. “Some Federal Tools for Revitalizing the Economic Base of U.S.Cities,” in the Congressional Research Service REVIEW on the Cities.  November/December 1988.  Volume 9, Number 10.
  35. Brancato, Carolyn K. and Christopher, Jan E.  “Merger and Acquisition Activity: The Level of Hostile Mergers.  August 28, 1987.  (Congressional Research Service Report 87-724 E).

Honors & Awards

  • Received a $2,000 Delaware State University Professional Development Award to attend the Caux Forum 2017 on Just Governance for Human Security, Caux, Switzerland, July 2017. 
  • Received Merit Compensation Pay Increases for 13 out her first 16 years of service: 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009. Delaware State University no longer has a Merit Compensation Program.
  • Coast Guard Academy.  July 2003-June 2004.  Received U.S. Department of Homeland Security pin for service at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy.  May 2004.
  • Received a $2,000 Delaware State University Professional Development Award to attend the Caux Forum 2017 on Just Governance for Human Security, Caux, Switzerland, July 2017. 
  • Received a $1,000 travel stipend from National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (NAFEO) to attend its workshop on NASA grants to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).  April 1996 and April 1997.
  • Received a School of Business and Economics Summer Research Grant and a Professional Development Grant for the period January 1, 1996 through June 30, 1996 to complete the research on “An Historical Analysis of the Financial Institutions in the State of Delaware.”  This report was presented for the first time in March 1997, at the 43rd International Atlantic Economic Conference, sponsored by the Atlantic Economic Society in London England.  The paper was cited in the 1998 edition of International Advances in Economic Research. 
  • Received an American Economic Association/Federal Reserve System Dissertation Fellowship.
  • Received the U.S. Department of Education Graduate and Professional Opportunity Program (G*POP) scholarship (renamed the Patricia Roberts Harris Fellowship) to complete an M.B.A. degree from the University of Oklahoma.

Teaching

Principles of Macroeconomics and Microeconomics, Introductory Business Statistics, Economics Foundations (MBA), Quantitative Foundations (MBA), Quantitative Methods (MBA), Quantitative Research Methods (MBA), Quantitative and  Qualitative Research Methods (EDUC), Economic and Financial Environment of the Organization (MBA), Managerial Economics (Undergraduate and MBA), Data Analytics (MBA), Commercial Bank Management, Principles of Microeconomics (Honors), Intermediate Microeconomics, Mathematical Economics, Statistical Analysis II, Introduction to Econometric Analysis, Risk and Insurance, Money & Banking, Public Finance, New Venture Finance and Investment, Public Sector Economics, Research on Minority and Women-Owned Businesses (WMGS), and Global Societies.

Additional Information

BOARD MEMBERSHIPS

  • National Economic Association (2/2010-1/31/2016)

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

  • Launched J. E. Christopher Economic Research, LLC in April 2010.
  • Evaluated data reported to the Securities and Exchange Commission on mergers and acquisitions, leverage buyouts, bridge financing, and other capital market financial techniques.
  • Conducted major studies in the areas of regional economic development, transportation, and enterprise zone legislation.  One major study was cited in the Congressional Record. Published twelve articles on the subjects of transportation, regional economics, rural economics, and business development.  All twelve articles were published in Congressional Research Service reports.
  • Performed statistical analyses to assist in reducing quality costs on defense contracts and other aircraft operations. Briefed management on quality problems relating to various aircraft programs under contractual arrangement.
  • Served as the Project Manager for research grants supported by the Federal Highway Administration, Acting Chair of the Department of Business Administration, Distinguished Visiting Professor of Economics and Geography at the U.S. Air Force Academy, Distinguished Visiting Professor in the Department of Leadership and Management at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, Chair of the Department of Economics, and Assistant and Associate Professors of Economics and Business Administration, and serve as an analytics and Big Data Thought Leader for SAP Predictive Analytics software during a tenure-track academic appointment with Delaware State University.
  • Served as a Fixed-Income Market Specialist with the Bureau of the Public Debt, U.S. Department of the Treasury. Conducted Research on the Cash Management Bill (CMB) for the Office of Debt Management, U.S. Department of the Treasury, Main Treasury Building, Washington, DC.  
  • Completed a major research project for the Center for Public Policy Priorities affiliated with the University of Texas at Austin through the Howard University Center on Race and Wealth.  This project was funded by the Ford Foundation.
  • Serve as a Public Arbitrator with the FINRA® Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Neutral Dispute Resolution Arbitrator’s Program