About the Authors

Alan Grant (PhD, Kansas State University) is the Barbara and Charles A. Duboc University Professor at Baker University. In addition to the principles courses, he teaches general education courses in economic issues and in game theory. His research has been published in many professional journals, including Public Finance Review, National Tax Journal, Economics Letters, and the Journal of Economic Education, and has been highlighted in The Wall Street Journal, Businessweek, The Economist, and The New York Times. Alan is also the author of Economic Analysis of Social Issues and is coauthor of Seinfeld and Economics: Lessons on Everything from the Show about Nothing. He is currently writing a second mass-market economics book, Game Theory of Thrones.

Libby Rittenberg began teaching economics at Colorado College in Colorado Springs in 1989. She taught principles of economics (always her favorite course to teach), intermediate macroeconomic theory, comparative economic systems, and international political economy. She received her BA in economics-mathematics and Spanish from Simmons College and her PhD in economics from Rutgers University.

Prior to joining the faculty at Colorado College, she taught at Lafayette College and at the Rutgers University Graduate School of Management. She served as a Fulbright Scholar in Istanbul, Turkey, and as a research economist at Mathematica, Inc., in Princeton, New Jersey. 

Dr. Rittenberg specializes in the internationally oriented areas of economics, with numerous articles in journals and books on comparative and development economics. Much of her work focuses on development and transition, and on the Turkish economy. 

Throughout her career, she was very involved in study abroad education and directed programs in central Europe and Turkey. 

She recently became professor emerita.

There is one word that captures the essence of Dr. Timothy Tregarthen—inspiring. Tim was first diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) in 1975. Yet, he continued a remarkable academic career of teaching and research. In 1996, he published the first edition of his principles of economics textbook to great acclaim, and it became widely used in colleges around the country. That same year, MS made him wheelchair-bound. The disease forced his retirement from teaching at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs in 1998. He lost the use of his arms in 2001 and has been quadriplegic ever since. In 2002, Tim’s doctor expected him to die.

He was placed in the Pikes Peak Hospice program and was twice given his last rites by his priest. Former UCCS Chancellor Shockley-Zalabak says, “I really thought that Tim would die in hospice. That’s what the doctors told me, and I really believed that. I remember one day they called me and told me to try to come see him. They didn't expect him to live through the night.”

Not only did he live through the night, but he eventually recovered to the point that he moved from hospice to a long-term care facility. There, he never let his disease get him down. In fact, he turned back to his love of writing and teaching for inspiration. He obtained a voice-activated computer, recruited a co-author, Libby Rittenberg of Colorado College, and turned his attention to revising his principles of economics book. FlatWorld was honored to publish a new, first-edition relaunch of this wonderful book, which has remained a most important part of its textbook offerings since its founding.

Tim has also written an autobiography about the 32 years he has had MS, titled Suffering, Faith, and Wildflowers. Remarkably, in 2007, he was able to return for a semester to the classroom at UCCS, where he had taught economics for 27 years. In 2009, Tim returned to California to be closer to his supportive extended family. He now lives in Pasadena.

Perhaps Tim’s approach to life is best summed up by an observation by UCCS English Professor Thomas Naperierkowski: “One of the remarkable things is, heck, I can wake up with a headache and be a pretty grouchy character, but given his physical trials, which he faces every minute of his life these days, I’ve never seen him grouchy, I’ve never seen him cranky.” Carry on, Tim.