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Rotthoff hopes teaching in Prague leads to him learning
By ERIN PUSTAY

Erin.Pustay@IndeOnline.com
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Every year, Kurt Rotthoff heard the same things from his peers as they looked over their semester schedules: “Economics … bleh.”

Rotthoff, naturally, saw it differently.

“Economics is a way of studying the world that made sense to me,” Rotthoff said. “Plus, I had some really good professors in my undergraduate classes.

Rotthoff, a Massillon native who recently earned his Ph.D. in economics from Clemson University, is planning to shake up the way students at Seton Hall University look at the classes he will teach there this fall.

“Most people walk into every economics class thinking it will be the worst thing in the world,” Rotthoff said. “I want to show them it’s not.”

He’ll have a unique opportunity to prepare himself for that challenge this summer.

Rotthoff was selected as one of six instructors to lead small lectures and discussions at the American Institute on Political and Economic Systems at Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic, July 14 - Aug. 6.

The three-week institute will bring students together from across the world to explore and discuss global political science and economic matters. Rotthoff expects to lead a series of small discussions daily after a large group lecture.

Although he will be teaching, Rotthoff said he is the one who will be doing most of the learning.

“(Americans) think in the same ways because we all grew up in the same culture,” Rotthoff said. “There are a lot of countries who were communist countries they don’t know what it is like to go to the supermarket and pay different prices for different goods. I think it will be a great experience, just to see the way they think.”

One week prior to the start of the institute, Rotthoff will spend a week in the city of Prague, visiting with local residents and exploring the culture around him. Doing so, he said, helps to make him a better teacher because it gives him a broader perspective when teaching.

“I want to spend time in Prague to get a feel for what the culture and life is really like in that city,” Rotthoff said. “To spend one day in a city is not enough time to discover what it is like to live there and explore what the (citizens’) lives are like.”

Rotthoff is a 1998 Washington High graduate who earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Westminster College in 2002. He later studied economics at Clemson University where he earned both his Masters (2004) and Ph.D. (2007).

He is the son of David and Linda Rotthoff, of Massillon.

For more information on the AIPES program Rotthoff will be a part of, go online to http://www.tfasinternational.org/aipes/about/


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