Biographical Text
Professor Emeritus of Economics Dr. Durden received his B.B.A. degree in 1969 from Georgia State University. He earned his M.S. degree in economics in 1971, and his Ph.D. degree in economics in 1973 from the Florida State University. Durden is married to Joan S. Durden, who received her M.F.A. degree from Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia. Joan recently retired from the art department at Appalachian State University and continues her painting schedule. The Durdens have one son, Drew, who is a graduate of Brown University. Drew and his wife, Kati, are both Michigan law graduates. Drew is in corporate law, and Kati works for the State of Georgia, in Atlanta. The two welcomed their second child into the world in December of 2007. Dr. Durden began his teaching career at Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia, in 1972 and taught there until 1982. While at Old Dominion University, he served for fifteen months as an economic analyst at the United States Department of Energy under the intergovernmental personnel act. He also served as assistant dean and department chair. In 1982, Durden began teaching economics at Appalachian State University and continued there until his retirement in 2004. While at Appalachian he was involved in many research projects and was department chair. During his academic career Durden taught many different classes: macro and micro principals, survey of economics, economics for non-business majors; graduate and undergraduate urban economics; graduate regional economics; energy economics; basic statistics; economics for Master's of Business Administration students; issues in international economics; and political economy. In 1994, Durden was appointed to the executive council of the Southern Regional Science Association a position he held until 1998. In 1999, he received the Excellence in Research Award from the Walker College of Business at Appalachian State. Durden also published almost forty papers during his career. Some of these are: • "The Rational Behavior Theory of Voter Participation: The Evidence from Congressional Elections," Public Choice 23 (1975) 101-108, (with Jon Silberman). • "Determining Legislative Preferences on the Minimum Wage: An Economic Approach," Journal of Political Economy 84 (1976): 317-329 (with Jon Silberman). • "The Effects of Interest Group Pressure on Coal Strip-Mining Legislation," Social Science Quarterly 72 (June 1991): 239-250 (with Jason Shogren, and Jon Silberman). • "Measuring the Extent of Earnings Discrimination: An Update," (with Patricia Gaynor), Applied Economics 27 (1995) 669-76. • "The Effects of Class Absences on Student Performance in Principles of Economics Courses," (with Larry Ellis), American Economic Review Papers and Proceedings 85, (May 1995): 343-46. • "The Political Economy of Clean Air Legislation: An Analysis of Voting in the United States Senate on Amendments to the 1990 Clean Air Act," (with Mark Burkey), Environmental and Resource Economics 11 (1998): 119-134. • "More on the Cost of Being Other than White and Male" (with P. Gaynor), American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 57 (Spring 1997): 192-193. • "Determinants of Scholarly Productivity among Male and Female Economists," Economic Inquiry, 41 no. 4 (2003): 555-564, (with Kellie Maske and Patricia Gaynor). Dr. Durden is still involved in several ongoing research projects, which include: • "Determinants of Salaries in Economics: Does Gender Discrimination Exist?" (with Todd Cherry and Patricia Gaynor). • "The Impact of the Repeat-Voting, Habit Persistence Phenomenon on the Probability of 163 Voting in Presidential Elections," (with Richard Cebula and Patricia Gaynor). • "Expected Benefits from Voting and Voter Turnout in the U.S.: The Role of Senate Pac Election Contributions," Journal of Applied Economics (with Richard Cebula) Dr. Durden and his wife purchased a house in Amelia Island, Florida, and are currently living there. Source: Appalachian State University files. -Shelbie Ely
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