Margaret Jodlowski is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics at the Ohio State University. The below comments were obtained shortly after the completion of her undergraduate degree. 

"At Illinois, I complemented my undergraduate study of Agricultural Economics with a degree in History, which many people found confusing. However, my work focuses on international development, and history is crucial to understanding how countries arrived at their current political, economic, and cultural situations.  Ignoring history leads to irrelevance and irreverence: it would be impossible to tailor an economic plan to a certain country or region without understanding its history. Further, my History degree developed and fine-tuned my writing skills, giving me a sharp advantage in my Economics classes, where papers of more than 20 pages are feared by most students. Strong writing will only become more important in my future career, since publication in journals is essential to success in my field, as in many others. History provided not only productive critical thinking skills and clearer writing, but a solid foundation for a truly interdisciplinary study of the developing world."

Learn more about Margaret's current career on her website.