I am from Portland, Oregon. I met my future wife as an undergraduate at Willamette University. We were married the summer before my first year of graduate school. My first son was born while I was a grad student. And when I received my PhD from Wisconsin in 1999 we had another on the way. I have been Duke ever since, expanding the family to include five sons.
Much of my work has centered on higher education, especially choice of major and affirmative action. I served as a testifying expert for the plaintiffs in SFFA v. Harvard. My work also drifts into applied econometrics. Most of my contributions here focus on facilitating the estimation of dynamic discrete choice models.
My spiritual life took off in graduate school. There I was blessed to be part of a Bible study run by a former Evangelical minister. It was in that Bible study that my wife and I developed our interior life as well as a desire to spread the Good News. For me it was like discovering a buried treasure; being Catholic became a joy rather than an obligation.
I am particularly inspired by The Hiding Place and read it at least once a year. I find that it encapsulates well the Christian call to love everyone regardless of how they treat you (though easier said than done).
My relative strengths as a mentor would be in helping those in my field of study as well as assisting those who want to deepen their spiritual lives. I am still working on connecting economics and religion, though CREDO has helped me make some baby steps.
Contact: psarcidi@mac.com