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TC's Anand R. Marri to Direct Education for NY Federal Reserve Bank
TC faculty member Anand R. Marri has been named Vice President and Head of Economic Education for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. He will serve as the highest-ranking officer for education for the Federal Reserve System nationwide.
“The Fed is the critical regulator of the U.S. economy and, perhaps, the world’s most important central bank,” Marri said. “The basic concept is simple: it influences the amount of money and credit in the U.S. economy. Without the Fed taking action after the fiscal crisis of 2008, for example, the country would have been in much worse financial trouble. So it’s really important that people understand what the Fed does.”
Marri, Associate Professor of Social Studies & Education at TC, has achieved widespread recognition as authority on education for young people on economic literacy topics. In 2010, he spearheaded creation of “Understanding Fiscal Responsibility: A Curriculum for Teaching About the Federal Budget, National Debt and Budget Deficit,” a non-partisan, inquiry-based curriculum that teaches students the facts, significance, and consequences of the federal budget, national debt, and budget deficit for the United States and its citizens. Funded initially by a TC Provost’s Investment Fund grant and subsequently by a five-year $3.25 million grant from the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, “Understanding Fiscal Responsibility” has since been distributed to high schools and universities across the nation.
More recently, Marri led creation of The Cowin Financial Literacy Project, a unique professional development program for New York City public school teachers working with students in grades 9-12. Funded by TC Trustee Joyce B. Cowin (M.A.’52), the Project helps teachers to integrate important concepts about personal finance into history, social studies, and other courses they already teach, with the goal of providing young people with practical know-how about saving, investing, spending and other key concepts.
Marri has been granted a research leave by the College in order to take the position. In his new role, directing a 10-member staff that includes Adrian Franco, a recent Ph.D. graduate of TC’s program in Economics and Education, he will oversee a group of programs aimed at improving the public’s knowledge about the bank’s role and monetary policy, providing professional development to university faculty, and inspiring young people to pursue careers in economics and finance. He will also direct the museum at 33 Liberty Street in Manhattan, headquarters of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which includes the world’s largest gold reserve. More than 60,000 people visit the museum every year.
Marri also is planning to create partnerships with academic institutions and develop a new program for high school teachers that will incorporate many of the features of the UFR and Cowin projects, as well as other economic literacy concepts.
“There’s a very clear connection between this position and my research and teaching at TC – otherwise I wouldn’t have taken the job,” he said. “I would love to have our TC student teachers and graduate students do internships here, test out our materials, and attend our workshops.”
Published Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2014
