In loving memory of our colleague, Anne Bresnock

In loving memory of our colleague, Anne Bresnock

Our colleague, Anne Bresnock, passed October 16, 2020.

She served the Cal Poly Pomona Economics Department from 1990 until her passing. Although retired since 2018, she continued to teach and was scheduled for two of her favorite classes in the Spring: Natural Resource Economics and Industry Studies.

"The Cal Poly Pomona Economics Department lost its most vigorous and vocal champion on October 16^th with the passing of Anne Bresnock. Her devotion to the department was surpassed only by that to her students; whose successes thrilled her and challenges pained her as if they were her own children," said Economics Department Chair, Dr. Bruce Brown.

Anne had an unforgettable energy and enthusiasm that will be profoundly missed by her colleagues and students. As a tireless champion of Economics as a Social Science, she served on the College of Letters Arts and Social Sciences Curriculum Committee for nearly thirty years. She developed two courses to fulfill Upper Division General Education requirements: Industry Studies and Countrywide Studies.  Although nearing retirement, she took charge of the Departmentâ’s process of converting from Quarters to Semesters in Fall 2018.

In 2000, Anne and a colleague from Cal State Los Angeles, Neil Garston, were awarded a $500,000 National Science Foundation Grant to develop a teaching tool, Sim Econ, inspired by video games such as SimCity. In the early 2000s she worked tirelessly on this project, bringing it to fruition.

Anne also developed and curated online information for teaching Environmental Economics, the website Sustainable Earth Exchange Link Information for Educators.

Anne loved traveling, whether to Europe or driving up the California coast.  Unfortunately, medical issues limited her mobility in later years.  When she was younger, Anne had been an active runner and completed marathons.

Anne was originally from Hazelton PA, an area rich in anthracite coal. Her grandfather worked in the coal mines and he lived to see his granddaughter become a professor. She completed her B.A. in Economics from Russell Sage College in New York; and MA and Ph.D. in Economics at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Her dissertation was titled, Housing Prices, Income and Environmental Quality in Denver, and she had continued to pursue research connecting real estate values and environmental quality.  She resided most recently in San Juan Capistrano where she appreciated being close to the ocean and clean air.

Although there are no suggested remembrances, she was known to be an enthusiastic supporter of social justice and environmental causes such as Greenpeace.

"Anne had an unforgettable energy and enthusiasm that will be profoundly missed by her colleagues and students. As a tireless champion of Economics as a Social Science, she served on the College of Letters Arts and Social Sciences Curriculum Committee for nearly thirty years. She developed two courses to fulfill Upper Division General Education requirements: Industry Studies and Countrywide Studies.  Although nearing retirement, she took charge of the Department’s process of converting from Quarters to Semesters in Fall 2018," said CLASS Dean, Iris S. Levine.