Meet the Faculty: Stephanie Thomas

Prof. Thomas teaches courses in microeconomics, labor economics, and personnel economics.

What do you enjoy about working with ILR students?

ILR students have a diversity of interests all connected by common threads. While students have different career goals and passion projects, they’re all trying to accomplish the same overarching goal of making a positive difference in the world.

What piece of advice would you like to offer your students?

Be realistic about how you define success for yourself. You’re not going to earn 100s on every assessment, and that’s okay. Rather than striving for perfection, strive to do the best you can do. Your best is good enough, and you are good enough. Be as kind to yourself as you are to others.

When do you recommend students to reach out to you?

It’s always nice when students reach out at the very beginning of the semester to say hello and to introduce themselves – it helps me tailor my explanations when I know more about my students’ experiences and interests outside of the classroom. I encourage students to reach out to me as soon as something in the course content doesn’t make sense. If they do, we can usually solve the issue in 5-10 minutes. If they wait, it takes a lot longer because the misunderstandings can compound. Earlier is better!