The Department of Economics is pleased to announce the promotion of five associate professors to the rank of professor. Shari Eli, Peter Morrow, Joseph Steinberg, Eduardo Souza-Rodrigues and Ronald Wolthoff will start their new roles on 1 July 2025.
Economic historian Shari Eli holds a joint appointment with the Economics Department and with the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. She is a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and the founder and director of the People’s History Lab. Her fields of research are economic history, health economics and demography.
“Shari has been one of my favourite profs at UofT. She’s always been so willing to support my individual path, even though there have been times where that has been quite different from the typical degree progression,” said class of 2025 alumna Elissa Chrapko. “As a professor, she’s been one of the most understanding and genuine teachers I’ve had. Her teaching style is direct and honest, which is refreshing. Shari also genuinely wants to see her students be not only academically successful, but also happy and fulfilled beyond the classroom.”
International trade specialist Peter Morrow most recent research has included long term examinations of how workers fared following implementation of the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement and the impact of domestic competition on export performance. He is currently serving as Co-Editor of the Canadian Journal of Economics. Like Professors Eli and Steinberg, he teaches at the St. George campus.
“I’m very glad to hear about Professor Morrow’s promotion,” said 2025 PhD alumni Myeongwan Kim who is starting a position as an International Economics and Global Security Postdoctoral Fellow at Dartmouth College this academic year. “Throughout my PhD, I’ve worked with Peter as his student, RA, and coauthor, and he has been such a great mentor. I also appreciated his dedication to our trade group through his valuable service such as organizing brown bags and conferences.”
Anubha Agarwal, a recent PhD alumna who has accepted a position as Assistant Professor in the Economics Area at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB), is grateful for what she learned about teaching from Morrow.
“As a teaching assistant for Professor Peter Morrow, I gained valuable insights into course organization, effective lecturing, and student engagement,” she said. “He is an outstanding educator, deeply committed to student success, and I warmly congratulate him on his promotion.”
Joseph Steinberg’s research includes current issues in taxation, international trade tariff risks and trade policy dynamics. Professor Steinberg is an Associate Editor at the Journal of International Economics. He teaches International Monetary Theory, Macroeconomic Theory and International Macro Economics.
“I have had the great pleasure of not only learning from Joe but also working with him in ECO208,” said undergraduate economics alumnus Victor Popa Burca. “He is an amazing professor, and someone who I really look up to in the department. I can’t think of someone more deserving of this promotion than Joe, and I seriously recommend him to any new student considering taking his classes!”
Steinberg’s graduate students appear to agree.
“As my advisor, Joe has been pivotal for my success in the PhD,” said PhD alumnus James Macek who will be joining the University of Alberta’s Business School as an assistant professor. “He is always insightful and has a unique knack for helping you understand your own ideas. This promotion cannot be more deserved.”
Economics at UTM has additional reasons to celebrate the promotions of Ronald Wolthoff and Eduardo Souza-Rodrigues. Professor Wolthoff currently sits as the Chair at UTM while Professor Rodrigues is the Associate Chair.
Environmental economist and econometrician Eduardo Souza-Rodrigues’ most recent research has included evaluations of Brazil’s anti-deforestation policies to protect the Amazon Rain Forest. He is a research affiliate at both the Forward Society Lab (FOS) and the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR).
“Professor Souza-Rodrigues is an exceptionally caring and meticulous mentor who consistently places students’ growth and well-being at the forefront,” said class of 2024 alumna Keyi Fan, now a graduate student at the Harvard Kennedy School. “He was one of my advisors on ECO499. During the year-long course, I vividly remember how he patiently guided me step-by-step through my first independent reduced-form analysis. And I applied for access to restricted Statistics Canada RDC microdata. Despite the extensive personal details and complicated procedures involved, Eduardo wholeheartedly backed my application to ensure the highest quality data possible for my project.”
Labour economist Ronald Wolthoff is a research fellow of the IZA Institute of Labor Economics. His research focuses on questions of how workers and firms in a labor market, or buyers and sellers in a goods market or an asset market, meet and subsequently match or trade with each other. He also examines how the processes that govern these meetings and matches affects aggregate outcomes and the response of those outcomes to aggregate shocks.
“I was very happy to hear that Ronald is getting this well-deserved promotion” said Frank Leenders, Postdoctoral Researcher at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. “Ronald was one of my PhD supervisors, and I also worked with him as a TA and RA. I was always very impressed with Ronald’s ability as a teacher to judge exactly the right amount of detail and difficulty needed to challenge but not discourage students. As a teacher and as a supervisor, Ronald is incredibly supportive and genuinely invested in students’ academic success as well as their more general well-being. I honestly could not have wished for a better mentor.”
Leenders was one of the first PhD students Wolthoff supervised. Graduate students who have taken Wolthoff’s macroeconomics seminar agree with his assessment of Wolthoff’s style.
“Ronald is incredibly kind and enthusiastic when discussing economics. He always takes the time to understand questions and perspectives before responding, which makes conversations with him insightful and engaging. His constructive feedback during seminars is particularly valuable, as he provides thoughtful and supportive comments that enhance discussions” said Duc Nguyen, a 2025 PhD alum who has accepted a position as Assistant Professor at Amherst College.
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