Mizzou Economics is fortunate to employ several remote Online Teaching Specialists that offer high quality and convenient online courses.  For example, Vitor Trindade regularly teaches courses in International Economics and Trade (Econ 3224 and Econ 4326/7326), as well as Microeconomic Theory (Econ 8451) and the MA research Paper class (Econ 8413).

Vitor Trindade has received a PhD in Economics from the University of California, San Diego in 2000. He was an Assistant Professor at Syracuse University for 5 years and has been teaching at Mizzou since 2005.

While at Syracuse University, Vitor twice received the Outstanding Teaching Award from the International Relations Master’s Program. This award is decided by student voting. At the University of Missouri, Vitor was the 2010 recipient of the prestigious Maxine Christopher Shutz Award, given once per year for excellence in teaching.  In his teaching philosophy, Vitor believes in the principle: “teach skills, not just knowledge.” That is, while knowledge about Economics is obviously important, teaching is also about developing skills (such as critical thinking) that can be used for different areas. Another component of his teaching approach is the emphasis on practice. He often says to students “Economics is a language, and just as when you learn German or Chinese, you need to practice by speaking it.” Thus, Vitor encourages students to meet in groups or to meet in online forums to discuss class content.

When not busy teaching, Vitor is also a world traveler. This started in his youth, having grown in three different continents before he graduated from high school, and became a life-long passion. Vitor has visited over 60 countries and hopes that he can go up to 100!