Meet the Featured Faculty Member

Dr. Cyril Chang

2004 Eminent Faculty Award Winner

Dr. Cyril F. Chang is a Suzanne Downs Palmer Professor in Economics at the Fogelman College of Business and Economics and the Director of the Methodist-LeBonheur Center for Healthcare Economics. He is the consummate faculty member, excelling in teaching, research and service. His area of research interest, moreover, has extended his reach to the community where he is now seen as a leader in healthcare policy. Dr. Donna Hathaway, Dean of the UT College of Nursing, praised Dr. Chang for his willingness to lend his expertise. "It's not unusual for me to be sitting in a meeting and hear about some critically important economic data that Dr. Chang contributed to the project we're discussing," she wrote. "The quality of his work is not only widely recognized throughout the area's healthcare community, but the impact it has had on our broader community is substantial. Whenever a message needs to be sent to legislators, the media or anyone about an economic issue related to healthcare in our community, he is without a doubt the 'go to' person." His community partnerships include continuing relationships with the Methodist-LeBonheur Foundation and with the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Shelby County Government, Pfizer, Inc. Memphis Business Group on Health, Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, and others.

Dr. Chang is an excellent teacher, as his student evaluations have demonstrated. Dr. David Mirvis, Director of the UT Center for Health Services Research, commended Dr. Chang's teaching. "He has the unusual ability to make complex ideas understandable," Mirvis wrote. "He is masterful in explaining complex issues to all levels of students with a clarity that makes them understandable, but without over-simplification that would make the idea meaningless.

During his career, Dr. Chang has written a book and published over 100 book chapters and journal articles in health economics, economics of education, and nonprofit organizations. He has received many research grants, chaired or served on 15 Ph.D. dissertation committees, and earned a variety of awards including the 2002 University of Memphis Alumni Association Distinguished Teaching Award and the 1996 University of Memphis Alumni Association Distinguished Research Award.

Dr. Chang earned his Ph.D. at the University of Virginia. It is important to note, however, that he earned his Master's Degree at the Memphis State University.

We are honored to have Dr. Chang as a member of our faculty.

Congratulations, DR. CHANG.

(The above was presented by Honorable Bernice Donald, U.S. District Judge for the Western District of Tennessee at the Seventeenth Annual Faculty Convocation of The University of Memphis on April 22, 2004.)