The University of Southern Indiana’s Lambda chapter of Omicron Delta Epsilon welcomed three new members on November 18, 2015, in an initiation ceremony and luncheon in the University Center Presidential Suite.
Omicron Delta Epsilon (ODE) is an academic honor society that recognizes scholastic achievement in economics. Undergraduate initiates have completed 12 or more semester hours of economics courses and maintained at least a B average. They all rank in the top third of their class.
The fall 2015 ODE inductees are:
L to R: Abigail Bridges, Jim Fuchs, Assistant Vice President of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, and Christian Miller. Not pictured: Tyler Fitzsimmons.
Jim Fuchs, Assistant Vice President, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, gave a presentation at the initiation ceremony. The title of his presentation was “Overview of Community Banks and Financial Innovations.”
As assistant vice president at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Fuchs oversees the operations of the bank's Applications unit and its Supervisory Policy and Risk Analysis unit. Fuchs also oversees a wide range of programs developed by the St. Louis Fed for community bankers and directs the bank's Community Bank Research and Outreach office. Fuchs is currently the program committee chair for the Federal Reserve / Conference of State Bank Supervisors' Community Banking in the 21st Century research and policy conference held annually in St. Louis, Missouri.
Before joining the St. Louis Fed, Fuchs directed financial communications and served as a banking policy adviser to the New York State Comptroller. Earlier, Fuchs was chief of staff to former New York State Banking Superintendent Diana L. Taylor and served as an advisor to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. He received his MBA from the University of Missouri-St. Louis and his Bachelor of Science from the U.S. Air Force Academy. He also earned a graduate certificate in communications from the University of Oklahoma and a teaching certificate in secondary mathematics from City College in New York. In addition, Fuchs is a graduate of the Department of Defense Information School.
Also in attendance were George Stanley, senior vice president of Morgan Stanley, who was the 2012 Distinguished Speaker, as well as Romain College faculty members and graduate assistants.
Omicron Delta Epsilon is an international honor society for economics. Currently, ODE has 678 chapters located in the United States and across the globe. The Lambda chapter at USI was created in 1987. Dr. Marie A. Bussing is ODE’s USI chapter adviser.