The Center for Economic Education Staff

William Bosshardt, Director, FAU Center

Bill Bosshardt has been director of the Center for Economic Education at Florida Atlantic University since 1995. Over the past five years, the Center has offered 50 programs to over 800 teachers. These programs focus on teaching economic and financial education concepts through active-learning techniques in a variety of secondary school subjects. Since he arrived at FAU, Bill has trained hundreds of teachers in the Florida Stock Market Challenge.

Bill has been a faculty member of the Council on Economic Education’s Trainer of the Trainers program which conducted workshops for teachers in Russia, Ukraine, Malaysia, and Armenia. He is a coauthor on publications of lesson plans by the Council on Economic Education including “Focus: Globalization” and “Focus: Civics and Government.” Bill was the project director for “Focus: Middle School World History” and has recently finished the publication “High School Economics.” He also was in charge of the Council for Economic Education’s project that recently created the “National Standards in Financial Literacy.” A version of the standards is now part of Florida’s standards in financial literacy. Bill won the 2014 Bessie B. Moore Award for outstanding service to economic education.

Bill is an active researcher in the area of economic education, having published in leading journals such as the Review of Economics and Statistics, Economic Inquiry and the Journal of Economic Education. He received the Henry H. Villard Research Award in 2004, presented by the National Association of Economic Educators for outstanding published research in economic education.

Bill received his Ph.D. in economics from Purdue University in 1991 and his B.A. in economics and German in 1985 from St. Thomas University.

Brett Burkey - Spanish River High School

Brett Burkey resides in Boca Raton, FL. He has been teaching Economics at Spanish River H.S. in Boca Raton for 31 years and is currently the Social Studies Department Chair. In addition, he is the Assistant Director of the Florida Atlantic University Center for Economic Education. Brett provides professional development workshops in Economics and Personal Finance for teachers in all grade levels across Florida and the nation. He has been the author or project editor for numerous curriculum packages in Economics and Personal Finance. In 2009, he was honored as the National High School Economics Teacher of the Year and the Florida Economic Educator of the Year. He has a master's degree in Public Administration from Florida Atlantic University and a master's degree in Economic Education and Entrepreneurship from the University of Delaware.

Andrea Caceres-Santamaria, Master Teacher, FAU Center

Andrea is currently teaching advanced placement macroeconomics, and economics regular and honors at Seminole Ridge Community High School in Palm Beach County. She is currently enrolled in the master's in Economic and Entrepreneurship Education at the University of Delaware where she will be for the next two summers enhancing her knowledge in economics and innovative and effective teaching methods. Andrea was a contributing author for the 2011 Florida Council for Economic Education's publication Financial Freedom. In 2013 she was part of the writing team for the Council for Economic Education lesson project Math in the World. She is also a two time recipient of the Governors Awards in Economic Education for lessons in entrepreneurship, and a recipient of the 2011 Florida Atlantic University College of Education Excellence in Social Science Education Alumni award.

Andrea has attended numerous Council for Economic Education conferences including being a presenter at the 2014 annual conference. For 4 years now Andrea is proud to be continuing to work with the FAU Center in presenting active learning lessons to teachers.

Rupert Rhodd, Associate Director, FAU Center

Rupert Rhodd is an Associate Dean of the FAU College of Business and an Associate Professor of Economics. He is also the Associate Director for the FAU Center of Economics Education. He has published articles such as “Does the Performance on Principles of Economics Courses Affect the Overall Academic Success of Undergraduate Business Majors?” in the International Review of Economics Education and "Is There a Link Between Performance in International Economics Courses and Academic Success?" in the Journal of Economics and Finance Education. He has presented in Center workshops and served as judge for a number of state and local economic education contests.