Kaley Ware will begin pursuing her PhD in economics at the University of Tennessee after graduating from UMSL’s accelerated master’s program. (Photo by Derik Holtmann)
Kaley Ware feels lucky she gets to spend a little more time this summer at the University of Missouri–St. Louis.
Ware, who completed her master’s degree in economics last month, is working in the office of the Pierre Laclede Honors College until late July, when she’ll head to Knoxville, Tennessee, to begin a doctoral program at the University of Tennessee.
“I was able to work in their office last summer and fall, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to get to work again this summer before I move,” she said. “I think it’s a really supportive environment, and I enjoy working with them.”
It’ll give her a chance to make a few more memories at an institution that has already provided her with so many others over the past five years.
“I can’t think of a student that has grabbed a hold of her college experience and made sure to experience everything UMSL has to offer more than her,” said Lea-Rachel Kosnik, professor and chair of the Department of Economics, in describing Ware.
She is leaving UMSL with both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in economics after completing the accelerated master’s program. Ware also earned an Honors College certificate. She presented in the Undergraduate Research Symposium as a junior in 2024, spent the following summer as an intern in Sen. Josh Hawley’s office while participating in the UMSL in D.C. internship program, studied abroad at the University of Limerick in Ireland and was active on campus, working as a peer mentor in the Honors College and tutor in the Economic Resource Center and serving as an officer with the Women in Economics student organization. She was also chosen to serve as a graduate student marshal during commencement.
Ware, who grew up in Manchester, Missouri, went to UMSL expecting to use it as a jumping off point because she was interested in healthcare and thought she ultimately wanted to study pharmacology. She had planned to transfer to the program at the University of Missouri–Kansas City after a year or two.
But a few weeks before her first semester, she found herself rethinking that path.
“I was just kind of thinking about the prospect of taking science classes for the next eight years and realized, ‘Maybe that’s not exactly what I want to do,’” she said.
Instead, she tried to fill her freshman year with a mix of business, communications and economics classes hoping to get a feel for what disciplines most captivated her.
Ware had been leaning toward a business major when Teaching Professor Michael Allison pulled her and a couple other promising students from his “Principles of Macroeconomics” class aside and suggested they consider sticking with it. Initially, she decided to take his advice and minor in the subject, but by the end of her sophomore year, she was changing plans again and making it her major. She later decided to join the accelerated program to also pursue a master’s.
“I think really what drew me to economics was there’s so much critical thinking to it and really thinking about what relationships different variables have when we’re thinking about problems and solutions in society,” Ware said. “What variables relate to each other? Why it matters? I like trying to understand the tradeoffs that are inevitable in whatever policies or programs that we’re thinking about.”
The close-knit community Ware found in the Department of Economics helped draw her in and engage more deeply with her studies. Associate Teaching Professor Brian Speicher encouraged her to become a tutor in the ERC beginning in her sophomore year. It was Kosnik, meanwhile, who suggested she participate in research.
Expanding on a class project from Kosnik’s “Fundamentals of Cost-Benefit Analysis,” Ware examined the state of California’s decision to ban Red Dye No. 3 in food – something no other state had done at the time but that has since been done nationwide by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Her work focused on the costs for companies through increased regulation and weighed them against the health benefits for individuals in the state, and Ware presented her work at the Undergraduate Research Symposium.
Ware got to work on more healthcare-related issue after landing an internship in Sen. Hawley’s office in the summer of 2024. In addition to conducting tours of the U.S. Capitol when constituents visited, she was assigned to work with the natural resource and energy policy team and tasked with writing research memos to help inform its actions. At the time, Hawley was working to expand the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act through legislation that helped deliver compensation to Missourians who developed cancer or other illnesses after exposure to radioactive waste the federal government failed to properly store, contaminating Coldwater Creek and the West Lake Landfill in St. Louis County.
“I got to meet with some of the lawyers in the office who were working on that legislation and some advocates from St. Louis who would come up frequently to try to speak with the legislators,” Ware said. “Getting to interact with all these different people really helped open my eyes to what policy looks like. I think some of the things that I learned in that office and in that position have really carried over into what I’m interested in now and going to be pursuing after graduating.”
Ware’s experience in Washington was enhanced by the UMSL in D.C. program, which is run by the Honors College and helped her with expenses for housing and transportation throughout the summer. She also got to meet several UMSL alumni living in the Washington metro area.
Her experience in Washington gave her confidence when she went abroad to study at the University of Limerick in the spring of 2025. She wound up completing coursework for her bachelor’s degree, including classes in calculus and Irish history, and she relished the opportunity to experience the Irish culture. She also managed to visit Belgium, France, the Netherlands, England, Scotland, Italy and the Vatican while overseas.
Ware spent her final year back stateside, and she found it a little more relaxed with only three graduate courses on her schedule each semester. She also continued to tutor while serving a graduate assistantship in the ERC.
Her professors were generous with advice and time reviewing her personal statement and resume as she applied to different doctoral programs and, when possible, helped her form connections with different faculty members. Tennessee’s program stood out because of the opportunities it offered to do work at the intersection of health and environmental economics.
Ware is eager to get started, though it’s also hard to leave.
“It definitely feels bittersweet just because UMSL has done so much for me, and I really credit a lot of where I’m going to the faculty and students and opportunities to get involved,” Ware said. “It’s bittersweet, but I’m definitely looking forward to the next chapter.”
