"New BERC Director Named at University"
Daily News Journal (8/18/02)

By Jennifer Farish / Staff Reporter of The Daily News Journal


An Oklahoma professor will replace former Business and Economic Research Center director Al Deprince this year, following Deprince’s decision to return to full-time teaching.

The center, located on the MTSU campus, conducts and distributes research on economic and business conditions in Middle Tennessee. Deprince, who was director of the center for three years, said his decision to return to full-time teaching was motivated by changing interests.

“My interests over the years have gravitated toward corporate finance and financial markets and institutions,” Deprince said. “The requirements of the center are more of a regional economic nature, and it reached the point that I had to make a choice.”

He will be replaced by David Penn, who for the past 13 years has worked as the associate director of the Center for Economic and Management Research at the University of Oklahoma.

Deprince was pleased that MTSU was able to attract someone who had extensive expertise in the administration of an economics center.

“I think in terms of someone who can hit the pavement running, he was the top choice,” Deprince said.

“I just want to follow the path that has been laid out for me by my predecessors—to maintain visibility, study local economic positions,” Penn said, adding he will also be teaching an introduction to micro-economics class in the fall.

As director, Penn will oversee the center’s variety of services and research, which includes offering workshops and seminars for the community; conducting research for businesses, local governments and civic organizations; maintaining significant databases of regional, national and international information; and creating several regular publications on business and economic information.

Penn received his doctorate in economics from the University of Oklahoma, master’s degree in international studies from the University of Denver and his bachelor’s degree in political science and history from Northeastern Oklahoma State University.

He is a native of Tulsa, Okla., and has lived in the Oklahoma City area for over 20 years. His wife, Leslie Collum, is a practicing attorney. The couple has two daughters, ages 8 and 5.

During Deprince’s three years as director, the center saw a number of improvements, including the rebuilding of the original expertise in the center by the addition of a regional economist; classification upgrades for all staff members as a reflection of their increased duties over the past three years; increasing the extensive products and online databases available to the public; and the center’s publication “Tennessee Business” was recognized as the best flagship publication of national business and economic research centers.