The Economics Department Thanks David Papell for 15 Years of Service as Department
Chair
David Papell, Joel W. Sailors Endowed Professor of Economics, served the Department
of Economics at the University of Houston as Chair for 15 years. On September 1, 2019
he transitioned back to the department to concentrate on research and teaching. During
his time as Chair the Department grew in prestige as well as size. He was instrumental
in starting a full-time MA program, oversaw the dramatic improvement in our PhD program,
generated substantial increases in research funds for faculty and pioneered the hiring
of full-time instructional faculty to bolster the department’s teaching and service.
He was famous for his short and informative faculty meetings, and usually started
the meetings with a quote from some literary reference. In his last faculty meeting
on August 28, 2019, he cited departing comments from several former US Presidents.
When asked how he lasted for such a long time as Chair, he replied “because of faculty
volunteering and mutual respect.”
To celebrate his tenure as Department Chair, Chinhui Juhn hosted a taco bash party
together with Ruxandra Prodan Boul at Chinhui’s home on September 6, 2019. The photo
display here is from that event. There were many toasts and roasts including some
funny comments from the incoming chair Dietz Vollrath, “David taught me there was
no reason to make decisions when you have to, but not before. There is no reason to
argue about the decision twice.”
