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Steven Deller

Steven Deller

Professor, Community Development Specialist | University of Wisconsin Extension | Class of 1988

One part professor, one part mentor, one part pal.

David Chicoine, then a UI economics professor and later in life a university president, was all of that — and then some — to a young Steven Deller.

“Dave taught me how to think like an economist, but more important, how to convey the insights gained from economics to a non-economist audience,” says the two-degree UI grad (MS ’85, economics; Ph.D. ’88, agricultural economics).

“How does one take complex ideas and write and talk about them in a way that a town mayor or state legislator can understand those ideas? These insights that Dave taught me have allowed me to become a successful Extension community economic development specialist here at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

“Indeed, there are numerous communities across Wisconsin that have indirectly benefited from the mentoring and friendship I received from Dave Chicoine.”