ROANOKE — David Wheat, at long-time adjunct economics professor at Virginia Western Community College, will discuss his experiences living and teaching in Norway from 4-6 p.m. on Friday. His talk, which is open and free to the public, will be held at the Greenfield Education and Training Center in Daleville.
Wheat is a former Botetourt County resident with strong ties to the community. In addition to Virginia Western, he previously taught at Troutville Elementary, Botetourt Intermediate and Lord Botetourt High School, where he coached the girls’ basketball team to back-to-back state titles in 1995-96.
The main focus of Wheat’s talk will be upon his experiences teaching students in America versus those in Europe. He leads distance learning courses in economics for Virginia Western. In Norway, he teaches courses in University of Bergen’s international master degree program in system dynamics and supervises master and PhD students. He conducts public policy research in economics, demographics, and computer simulation. In addition, he is visiting professor of economics at ISM University of Management and Economics in Lithuania.
Wheat recently received a research grant to develop a system dynamics model of the Lithuanian labor market in light of emigration trends, low birth rates and population aging. He is past-president of the economics chapter of the International System Dynamics Society, and has conducted guest lectures and presented papers in 16 countries on four continents. He is in the U.S. this summer for the International System Dynamics Conference in Washington, where he will deliver a paper and conduct a workshop.
The Greenfield Center is located at 57 South Center Drive, Daleville, VA 24083. For directions, visit www.virginiawestern.edu/workforce/GreenfieldCenter or call (540) 966-3984.
