Economist, publisher to address Spring 2016 graduates of YSU

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Joseph G. Carson, director of Global Economic Research at AllianceBernstein, and Andrea Wood, chairwoman and president of the Youngstown Publishing Co. and publisher/editor of The Business Journal, receive honorary degrees at Youngstown State University’s Spring Commencement on May 7 in Beeghly Center on campus.

Wood will be the featured speaker at the morning ceremony that starts at 9:30 a.m., while Carson speaks at the afternoon ceremony starting at 2:30 p.m.

A resident of Poland, Ohio, Wood became the first newswoman at WYTV Channel 33 in Youngstown in 1974. She went on to work as a news anchor, producer and reporter at WSBT-TV in South Bend, Ind., and WPGH-TV in Pittsburgh. In 1979, she returned to WYTV as an investigative reporter and subsequently was promoted to chief anchor and executive producer.

In 1984, Wood launched a venture to promote small business and economic redevelopment in the Mahoning Valley with the publication of the Youngstown Business Journal.

Carson, who lives in New York, earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from YSU. He received his BA and MA from Youngstown State University and did his PhD coursework at George Washington University. He lives in New York.

He joined AllianceBernstein, a leading global investment-management and research firm, in 2001. He oversees the Economic Analysis team for AllianceBernstein Fixed Income and has primary responsibility for the economic and interest-rate analysis of the United States.