Open to full-and part-time students, it will allow students to specialize in one of five areas: international economics; economics and finance; health economics; economics, law and regulation, and urban and regional development. Students wishing to touch on each area can opt for a program focusing on general applied economics and permitting them to tailor the program to their needs.

Full-time students will be able to complete the program in four semesters; part-time students in three years. Isaac Ehrlich, professor and chair of the Department of Economics, said graduates will be well-positioned for jobs in business and finance, government, consulting firms, not-for-profit organizations and agencies in the U.S. and abroad. Because it will have a strong interdisciplinary orientation, the program is expected to draw students from the fields of business, management, law, medical and biomedical sciences, sociology, psychology and political science.

He said the new program is expected to be of particular interest to students from Asia, Latin America and eastern Europe because it will apply economic methodology to fields of importance to developing nations.

Cooperating with the economics department in the effort are the schools of management and law and the departments of geography, social and preventive medicine, sociology and political science.

Ehrlich said it's expected undergraduates will be able to enroll in a new, five-year program combining an undergraduate degree in economics with a master-of-arts degree and advanced certification in applied economics. That program is pending approval by the State University of New York.