German Economics Professor to Speak at Streich Family Lecture

German Economics Professor to Speak at Streich Family Lecture

German economics professor Dr. Klaus Merforth will be the guest speaker for the upcoming Streich Family Lecture Series on Free Enterprise. Merforth will speak about the European Union and its economic status at 11 a.m. Tuesday, March 5, in Bridwell Auditorium in the Dillard College of Business Administration. 

Since 1998, Merforth has been Professor of Economics in the Faculty of Business, Logistics, and Transportation at the Erfurt University of Applied Sciences in Erfurt, Germany. He specializes in international economics with a focus on economic development. He is the author or co-author of numerous publications related to international economic impacts of labor, changes in economic structure, and economic transformation. 

Merforth has served as coordinator for numerous field trips and projects that include students from Erfurt. He is also active in the International Summer School Academy offered at Erfurt, in which several MSU students have participated. 

At Erfurt University, Merforth has served as Faculty Council, Foreign Officer, Appeals Officer, and is currently a member of the University Senate. He has served as vice-dean of the Faculty of Economics on two occasions and is currently the vice-rector for Research and International Affairs at Erfurt. Merforth also serves as a member of the City Council of the City of Erfurt and chair of its Committee for Economic Development and Investments. Since 2006, he has served the Friedrich Elbert Foundation as a liaison officer. This foundation is an independent political foundation focusing its activities on the values of social democracy. 

The lecture series is named in honor of the Streich family, owners of former area Gibson's Discount Centers and is designed to give MSU students, staff, and the public insight into the American free enterprise system in relation to today's economic status. Former speakers include Bloomberg economist Richard Yamarone, Texas businessman T. Boone Pickens, Dr. Robert Z. Lawrence of the Brookings Institute, Lindley H. Clark Jr. of the Wall Street Journal, and Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts Susan Combs. 

Admission is free. The event is sponsored by the Dillard College of Business Administration, the Mamie Raborn Center for Economic Education, and Delta Sigma Pi. For more information, call the Dillard College of Business at (940) 397-3262.