Rate My Professor Santhi Hejeebu

Santhi Hejeebu is Professor and Co-chair of the Department of Economics and Business at Cornell College, a position she has held since 2020. She joined Cornell College in 2004 as Assistant Professor, advancing to Associate Professor (2010–2017, serving as Chair from 2011–2014), Ringer Distinguished Professor (2017–2020), and her current role. In these capacities, she teaches courses in business analytics including data visualization, social analytics, predictive modeling, and optimization; microeconomics; economics of organizations; markets and social networks; and US economic and business history. Prior appointments include Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Iowa (2000–2004), Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of History at the University of Iowa (Spring 2002), Lecturer in the Departments of Economics and South Asia Regional Studies at the University of Pennsylvania (Spring 2000), Visiting Scholar at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (1999), and Assistant Director/Research Economist at the Center for Business and Economic Studies, University of Baltimore (1990–1992). Hejeebu holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Iowa (1998), a B.A. in Economics magna cum laude from the University of Maryland Baltimore County (1989), and an Analytics for Data Science Certificate from The Institute for Statistics Education (2020).

Her research interests encompass applied microeconomics, economics of organization, and economic history, particularly contract enforcement and vertical integration in historical chartered companies like the English East India Company. Notable publications include the co-edited book Humanism Challenges Materialism in Economics and Economic History (University of Chicago Press, 2017), which earned the 2018 Choice Outstanding Academic Title; 'Contract Enforcement in the English East India Company' (Journal of Economic History, 2005); 'Own, Rent, or Rent-Seek?: Vertical Integration in Historical Chartered Monopolies' in Chartering Capitalism (2015); 'Job Design in the Presence of Career Concerns' (Journal of Economics and Management Strategy, 2012); and 'Specific Information and the English Chartered Companies, 1650–1750' (2008). Awards and honors include the Fulbright Fellowship (1997–1998), H.B. Earhart Fellowship (1996–1997), Ringer Distinguished Professorship, Arthur H. Cole Research Grant from the Economic History Association (2003–2004), and multiple Cornell College faculty development grants. She has provided expert commentary for the History Channel's 'Mankind: The Story of All of Us' (2012) and WalletHub (2018), and contributed to administrative initiatives such as strategic partnerships and curriculum development.