Cassandra (Casey) E. DiRienzo

Office Address:Home Address:

Campus Box 2075444 Ford Road

Elon University, NC 27244Chapel Hill, NC 27516

(336)278 – 5959(919) 602 – 6088

Education

Ph.D., Economics (Major emphasis) Statistics (Minor emphasis), North Carolina State

University, 2002.

Dissertation Title: “An Exploration of the Spatial Correlation Structure of Crop Yields and the Implications for Crop Insurance”

M.E. (Masters of Economics), North Carolina State University, 2001.

B.A., Economics, Cum Laude,Ohio State University, 1995.

Fields of Interest

Economic and business applications of nonparametric, spatial, and multivariate statistics, econometrics, and statistical forecasting

Present Position

Associate Professor, Elon University, August 2008 to date

Refereed Journal Publications

Das, Jayoti and Cassandra E. DiRienzo. 2009. “Tourism Competitiveness and Corruption: A Cross Country Analysis.” Tourism Economics, forthcoming.

Mancuso, Anthony, J. Cassandra E. DiRienzo, and Jayoti Das. 2009. “Assessing Terrorist Risk and FDI Using Relative Information Measures.” Applied Economics Letters, forthcoming.

Das, Jayoti and Cassandra E. DiRienzo. 2009. “Global Tourism Competitiveness and Freedom of the Press: A Nonlinear Relationship,” Journal of Travel Research, forthcoming.

Das, Jayoti, Cassandra E. DiRienzo, and John J. Burbridge. 2009. “Global E-government and the Role of Trust: A Cross Country Analysis.” International Journal of Electronic Government Research, 5(1): 1 - 18.

DiRienzo, Cassandra E., Jayoti Das, and Thomas Tiemann. 2008. “A Global Tolerance Index.” Competitiveness Review, 18(3): 192 - 205.

DiRienzo, Cassandra E., Jayoti Das, Katherine Cort, and John J. Burbridge. 2007.“Corruption and the Role of Information”. Journal of International Business Studies, 38(2): 320 – 332.

Das, Jayoti, Cassandra E. DiRienzo, and John J. Burbridge. 2007. “Terrorism and Corruption: Business Implications of a Nonlinear Relationship”. Journal of Applied Business and Economics, 7(1): 9 - 26.

Honeycutt, Earl, Cassandra E. DiRienzo, Robert Pavlik, and Shawn Thelen. 2007. “How Realistic are Student Attitudes Toward Selected Careers?” The Journal of Learning in Higher Education, 2(1): 69 – 75.

DiRienzo, Cassandra E., Jayoti Das, and John J. Burbridge. 2007. “Does Diversity Impact Competitiveness? A Cross Country Analysis”. Competitiveness Review, 17(3): 135 – 152.

Das, Jayoti, Cassandra E. DiRienzo, andThomas Tiemann. 2006.“A Note on an Ethnic Homogeneity Kuznets Curve”.Challenge. 49(2): 112-120.

Honeycutt, Earl, Cassandra E. DiRienzo, and Robert Pavlik. 2003. “Student Attitudes Toward Selected Career Attributes”,Journal of Contemporary Business Issues. Fall: 103-108.

Books

DiRienzo, Cassandra E. 2008. Spatial Relationship of Crop Yields: The Implications for Crop Insurance. VDM Verlag Dr. Müller e.K. Publishing House, Germany. (A publication of my dissertation in its entirety.)

Manuscripts under Review

Das, Jayoti and Cassandra E. DiRienzo. (November, 2008). “Is Diversity Good for the Environment? A Cross Country Analysis.” Submitted to Journal of Environment and Development.

DiRienzo, Cassandra E. and Jayoti Das. (October, 2008). “Terrorist Risk and Income Revisited.” Submitted to Terrorism and Political Violence.

DiRienzo, Cassandra E., Jayoti Das, Wohni Synn,Jeremy Kitts, and Kyle McGrath. (November,2007). “The Relationship between MBTI and Academic Performance: A Study across Academic Disciplines.” Submitted to The Journal of Psychological Type.

Proceedings

National Conference in Sales Management, Irvine, CA, March 2007. “The Impact of Practical Experience and Coursework on Student Attitudes Towards Sales Careers”. Pages 66 – 76.

Conference on Emerging Issues in Business and Technology, Myrtle Beach, NC, November 2004.“A Comparison of Student Attitudes Toward Intended Careers at Two Universities”.

Conference on Emerging Issues in Business and Technology, Myrtle Beach, NC, November 2003.“How Realistic are Student Attitudes Towards Selected Careers?”

Papers Presented at Academic Meetings

Burbridge, John J., Jayoti Das, and Cassandra E. DiRienzo. 2007. “Drivers of Regional and National Competitiveness: The Past and the Future” International Atlantic Economic Conference, Warsaw.

Mancuso, Anthony J., Cassandra E. DiRienzo, and Jayoti Das. 2007. “Terrorist Risk and FDI: What Deters Investment?” Eastern Economic Association, New York, February 2007.

Tiemann, Thomas, Cassandra E. DiRienzo, andJayoti Das, J. 2006. “Red Cities, Blue Cities”. Eastern Economic Association, Philadelphia, February 2006.

DiRienzo, Cassandra E, and AnthonyMancuso. 2004. “Demand Elasticity for Crop Insurance and Adverse Selection”. Eastern Economic Association, Washington, February 2004.

DiRienzo, Cassandra E, and Anthony Mancuso. 2003. “Improving Crop Insurance Programs: An Enhanced Area-Yield Approach”. Western Economic Association, Denver, July 2003.

DiRienzo, Cassandra E. 2003. “Testing the Equality of County-Level Cross-Crop Correlation”. Eastern Economic Association, New York City, New York, February 2003.

DiRienzo, Cassandra E. 2003.“The Rate of Spatial Correlation Decay of Crop Yields”. Eastern Economic Association, New York City, New York, February 2003.

DiRienzo, Cassandra E. 2000. “Modeling Spatial Dependence and Spatial Heterogeneity in Crop Yield Forecasting Models”. American Agricultural Economics Association, Tampa, Florida, August 2000.

Current Research

Das, Jayoti and Cassandra E. DiRienzo. “The Nonlinear Impact of Globalization on Corruption.” Target journal: Global Journal of BusinessResearch.

Das, Jayoti and Cassandra E. DiRienzo. “Political Leadership and the Role of Economic Freedom.” Target journal: Journal of Economics and Management Strategy.

Grants

  • Sabbatical Award, Fall 2008.
  • Love School of Business Summer Research Grant, 2002 through 2007

Awards

  • Literati Network Awards for Excellence 2008, Highly Commended Award Winner for “Does Diversity Impact Competitiveness? A Cross Country Analysis”. Competitiveness Review, 17(3): 135 – 152, with Jayoti Das, and John J. Burbridge.
  • Graduate Student Certification for Outstanding Teaching, N.C. State University, 1998 and 1999

Courses Taught at Elon University

  • MBA 570, Time Series and Forecasting
  • ECO 372, X-Treme Metrics
  • ECO 301, Business Economics
  • ECO 371 and ECO 499, Senior Seminars
  • ECO 203, Business Statistics
  • ECO 201, Principles of Economics

Professional Service

  • Advisory Board Member, The Clearing House, Fall 2008 to date.
  • Referee: Applied Economics, International Conference on Information Systems,John Wiley and Sons, Southwestern,McGraw-Hill / Irwin.
  • Affiliations: American Economic Association, 2007 to date; Omicron Delta Epsilon International Honor Society in Economics, 2003 to date; Council on Undergraduate Research, 2005 to date; Gamma Sigma Delta Academic Honors Society, 2000 to date.

University Service

  • Undergraduate Research Program Advisory Committee, co-chair, Fall 2006 to date; Member, 2005 - 2006
  • Elon Experiences Oversight Committee, Member, Fall 2006 to date
  • Chair of LSB Online Course Assessment Committee, Fall 2006 to Fall 2007
  • Distinguished Scholar Award Committee, Member, Fall 2005
  • Member of the Business Fellows Teaching Committee, Fall 2004 to date
  • Intellectual Climate Committee, Member, Member 2004 - 2005
  • LSB Assessment Analysis Group, Member, 2006 to date
  • Assurance of Learning, Member, 2006 to date

Past Positions

  • Assistant Professor, Elon University, August 2002 -2008.
  • Technical Writer/Technical Student for Risk Dimensions Software, SAS Corporation,Cary, N.C. June 2000 to August 2002.
  • Research Assistant, N.C. State University, Spring 1998 to May 2002.
  • Course Instructor/Adjunct Faculty, Meredith College, Fall 2000.
  • Course Instructor/Adjunct Faculty, N.C. State University. Summer1998 and 2000.

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