Mark Drabenstott

Lecture Title: "The Brave New World for Land-grant Universities"

About the guest speaker

Mark Drabenstott, vice president and director of the Center for the Study of Rural America at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, delivered the 2004 D.W. Brooks Lecture, Oct. 18 in Athens.

A seasoned observer of the rural economy, Drabenstott has gained national and international recognition for his economic analysis and policy insights. He is a native of Markle, Ind., where he grew up on his family's farm and learned agriculture, and basketball, firsthand.

Drabenstott earned a bachelor's degree from Earlham College and Master of Science and Ph.D. degrees from Iowa State University.

He joined the Federal Reserve Bank in 1981 and was named a vice president in 1990. Throughout his career at the bank, he has been an ardent observer of the leading issues facing the rural economy and food and agriculture sector, publishing more than 100 articles and editing five books.

A frequent speaker before industry, university and public policy audiences throughout the nation, he has testified before Congress more than a dozen times on rural and agricultural policy issues.

In October of 1998, Drabenstott was named director of the Center for the Study of Rural America. The center serves as the Federal Reserve's focal point for research on rural and agricultural issues. It publishes "The Main Street Economist," a monthly newsletter on rural America, and sponsors an annual conference on rural policy issues.

Drabenstott also provides leadership to a number of national organizations. He is currently a member of the U.S. delegation to an OECD committee that tracks global trends in rural issues. He is a past director of the National Bureau of Economic Research and has also advised the World Bank.