St. Mary's College of Maryland Professor Asif Dowla, Ph.D., speaks at the awards ceremony where he was presented the Homer L. Dodge Award for Excellence in Teaching. Dowla has taught economics at the college since 1991. (Photo: SMCM)
Dowla teaches international economics and the economics of developing countries, with an emphasis on micro-finance. A recognized expert on the subject, he was interviewed by the BBC early this year while in Scotland to keynote a conference on micro-credit. Dowla was asked by BBC Scotland to comment on the continuing global implications of the U.S. sub-prime loan situation. He is also the co-author of The Poor Always Pay Back: The Grameen II Story, a book about Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus' Grameen Bank of Bangladesh and its success with micro-credit loans to the poor.
Established in 1985 by Norton T. Dodge, the Homer L. Dodge Award for Excellence in Teaching was named for Norton Dodge's father, who was a professor of physics, chair of the physics department, and dean of the graduate school at the University of Oklahoma, and president of Norwich University, Northfield, Vermont. Norton Dodge served on the SMCM board of trustees from 1968 to 1980, and was professor of economics there from 1980 to 1989. He received an honorary degree from the college in 2002.