Uwe Woltemade

Sherwood Dodge Shankland Award for Encouragement of Teachers (1971)
Homer E. White Professor of Economics
Co-Director, Center for Economics and Business

Retirement Announcement

A native of Bremen, Germany, Uwe Woltemade came to the United States and received his B.A. in Economics from the University of Kansas City, Missouri, and his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Texas, Austin. He arrived at Ohio Wesleyan in 1965 and quickly advanced through the ranks to Full Professor. In his 30 year career at Ohio Wesleyan, he has been a clear embodiment of the hallmark of Ohio Wesleyan: a liberal arts education with both an international and an interdisciplinary focus.

His dissertation and initial research centered on village economies and housing in India. Through the years, he was able to make several study trips to India, each time adding to his already deep understanding of the economy and people of the region. He has both visited and published or given presentations on India, Yugoslavia, England, the Netherlands, Italy, Sweden, and Japan as well as his native Germany. Few can match this breadth and depth. His courses in Economic Development, Economic Systems and Comparative Urban Economics have always reflected this.

Uwe Woltemade has long been a champion of using an interdisciplinary approach to study a topic or solve a problem. He helped start and co-taught Ohio Wesleyan’s first Business Ethics course and has been instrumental in increasing our offerings on Japanese economics, management, culture and history. His students in the History of Economic Thought are aware of the debt that early economists owed to philosophers.

Uwe Woltemade started the Center for Economics and Business in 1984. Under his direction, the Center has sponsored trips for faculty in several departments to Europe, Washington D.C., and Japan. Several interdisciplinary and unique courses have come out of his work with the Center, including Japan’s Economic and Business History, Entrepreneurship in a Dynamic Society, Comparative Business Ethics, and one that he will return next year to teach on Comparative Capitalism. Our curriculum is richer and broader for his efforts.

Professor Woltemade is well-known for his Honors in Course offerings, where a group of students would regularly meet at his house to discuss additional readings outside of the usual curriculum. He has been a good citizen to the University, with extensive campus committee work and related service as well. He also chaired the Delaware Strategic Planning Committee and was a Director of the Delaware Chamber of Commerce.

Although he will be spending part of his retirement enjoying gardening at his farm in Missouri, we are fortunate that he will be returning to teach at Ohio Wesleyan this coming spring. Uwe Woltemade has had a profound influence on Ohio Wesleyan, its faculty and most importantly its students. He is truly a liberal arts economist.

Written by Robert J. Gitter, Professor of Economics