Rate My Professor Brendan Cushing-Daniels

Brendan Cushing-Daniels serves as Associate Professor of Economics at Gettysburg College, a position he has held since 2009, following his tenure as Assistant Professor from 2003 to 2009 and earlier roles including Visiting Instructor (2000-2001) and Adjunct Instructor (1994-1999). He earned his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley in 2001, M.P.I.A. in Economic and Social Development from the University of Pittsburgh in 1992, and B.A. in Government and International Relations from the University of Notre Dame in 1987. His professional experience includes Economist positions at the U.S. General Accounting Office (2001-2003) and the Urban Institute (2007-2008), as well as consulting for the World Bank and other organizations. Cushing-Daniels also held the Harold G. Evans Chair of Eisenhower Leadership Studies from 2018 to 2020, where he oversaw the Eisenhower Institute Undergraduate Fellows Program focused on themes like Common Security and Common Prosperity.

His research interests encompass welfare expenditures, Social Security, applied microeconometrics, poverty and inequality, social insurance programs, labor economics including wage penalties and discrimination, criminal recidivism, economic mobility, and policy topics such as the Family and Medical Leave Act and Marsy's Law. Notable publications include 'Wage Penalties and Sexual Orientation: An Update Using the General Social Survey' (Contemporary Economic Policy, 2009, with Tsz-Ying Yeung), 'Even the Errors Discriminate: How The Split-Population Model of Criminal Recidivism Makes Justice Even Less Colorblind' (Review of Black Political Economy, 2005), and 'Whistle Bans and Property Values: What Price Silence?' (Transportation Research Part D, 2005, with Patrick Murray). He authored the book Higher Education Is History: How the Legacy of Exclusion Impedes Socioeconomic Mobility. Cushing-Daniels teaches all levels of microeconomics, public economics, labor economics, a first-year seminar on poverty and inequality, history of economic thought, and macroeconomics. Among his honors are the Dr. Ralph Cavaliere Endowed Teaching Award (2024), Johnson Center for Creative Teaching and Learning Excellence in Teaching Award (2017), and Order of Omega Outstanding Economics Professor (2007). He co-chairs the Finance, Economics program (Bachelor of Science track), co-chairs the Student Success Task Force, and advises the Pennsylvania Beta chapter of Phi Delta Theta fraternity.