Tamara Cummings

Background

About Tamara Cummings

I'm the only full-time economics professor on campus. I've expanded offerings from Macro and Micro into Honors, and building additional offerings in environmental economics, and political economy, and the economics of poverty - working across disciplines because economics doesn't belong in a silo. Every course I teach is Zero Textbook Cost. My students don't buy books. They don't need to. I host the "Debunking Girl Math" podcast, a financial literacy series that started in my classroom and grew into something bigger. I created UMOJA-affiliated economics course that centers diaspora economics and wealth-building in communities of color. I'm a PhD candidate at Claremont Graduate University, Interfield Economics and Political Science. My dissertation examines how diaspora communities shape the political and economic development focused on Ghana. I have three publications forthcoming on culturally responsive economics education, Mossi diasporic identity, and the economics of heritage tourism. Before academia, I spent many years in healthcare administration. That career taught me how systems work, how they fail, and who gets left out. Same question I bring to the classroom. Economics should be accessible, relevant, and human. That's what I'm building.