AMES, Iowa -- A nationally recognized expert on rural economic analysis and policy studies and an alumnus of Iowa State University is the fall 2005 speaker for the Robert Stafford Lecture Series on Banking in the university's College of Business.
Mark Drabenstott, vice president and director of the Center for the Study of Rural America for the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, will speak on "Competing in the New Global Economic Race" at 1:10 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 10, in the Alliant Energy-Lee Liu Auditorium, Howe Hall. The lecture is free and open to the public. A public reception follows the lecture.
The Center for the Study of Rural America is the Federal Reserve system's focal point for research on rural and agricultural issues. As director, Drabenstott studies the leading issues facing the rural economy and food and agricultural sectors. He has published more than 100 articles, edited five books and testified before the U.S. Congress on policy issues more than a dozen times.
Drabenstott earned his bachelor's degree in economics from Earlham College, Richmond, Ind., and received both his master's and doctoral degrees in economics from Iowa State. He joined the Federal Reserve Bank in 1981 and was named a vice president in 1990. He was named the center's director in 1998.
Drabenstott is the second Stafford lecturer at Iowa State. For more information on the program, visit http://www.bus.iastate.edu/outreach/stafford.
The Robert Stafford Lecture Series on Banking was established by the College of Business in 2004 and is funded by Ames National Corporation in honor of its 100 years of service to the Ames community. The gift honors Robert Stafford, who was longtime president and chairman of First National Bank, Ames, and Ames National Corporation.
