ISSUED: 23 April 2014
MEDIA CONTACT: Valerie Owens
SHEPHERDSTOWN, WV — Shepherd University’s radio station, WSHC 89.7 FM, will rebroadcast the episode of Ira Glass’s “This American Life” that tells commencement speaker Dr. Emir Kamenica’s story Monday, May 5 at 9 a.m.
The show focuses on his adjustment to America as a Bosnian refugee at 15, the influence of his teachers on his academic career, and how we all shape stories of our pasts. One of those teachers, Lauren Ames, wife of Dr. Christopher Ames, vice president for academic affairs at Shepherd, is also on the show. She saw Kamenica’s potential and helped him get into a better high school which was pivotal to his success.
Kamenica is a professor of economics at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. He is publishing innovative and wide-ranging research on behavioral economics, including the nature of suspense and surprise, the dilemmas of consumer choice, dating preferences, placebo effects, and voting behavior. He earned a scholarship to Harvard University where he graduated with an A.B in applied mathematics and a Ph.D. in economics.
Michael Lewis, author of “Moneyball,” “The Blind Side,” “Liar’s Poker,” and “Flash Boys,” wrote the show.
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