UA Orman-Harris Lecture to Focus on Digital Technology

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Consumers face more and more electronic financial transactions every day – either by choice or by necessity. Sorting these out, and knowing what consumer protections apply, can be confusing.

Jeanne Hogarth, program manager for the Consumer Education and Research Section of the Division of Consumer and Community Affairs at the Federal Reserve Board, will discuss these new products and services in her lecture, “Digital Technology: Embracing the Future,” Thursday, Sept. 30 at 2 p.m., in 104 Doster Hall on the UA campus.

The lecture is part of the Orman-Harris lecture series, sponsored by the UA College of Human Environmental Sciences. It is free and open to the general public.

In her lecture, Hogarth will discuss the various consumer laws and tips about using some of these new products and services and how they can help you improve your money management skills and save money.

Hogarth, who joined the Federal Reserve Board in 1995, conducts research and outreach initiatives related to the work of the division and is responsible for the Board’s consumer information materials on financial services both in print and web-based.

A recent project she conducted was on consumers’ use of banking services, focusing on lower income households, the “unbanked,” and the adoption of electronic banking services. Another project focused on consumer protection strategies, consumer/financial literacy and education; credit, mortgage, and leasing products; consumer privacy issues; and consumer complaining behaviors.

Hogarth is the author of numerous scholarly research articles as well as consumer education resources on financial management. Both her research and her consumer education programs have received awards for their excellence.

She is an active member of the American Council of Consumer Interests and the Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education. She volunteers with the IRS’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program.

Her previous experiences include seven years of high school teaching, a year on the extension faculty at the University of Illinois and 13 years on the consumer economics faculty at Cornell University.

Hogarth received a bachelor’s in education from Bowling Green State University and a master’s and doctorate in family and consumer sciences from Ohio State University.

The Orman-Harris Lecture was established by the late Mildred Brown Davis to promote the professional development of The College of Human Environmental Sciences faculty and to enrich the quality of its academic programs. In the late 1940s, Davis received her graduate degree from the College and in 1981 was recognized as one of its outstanding graduates. Davis asked that the lectureship honor the memory of two distinguished educators and professionals, Elizabeth Carmichael Orman and Agnes Ellen Harris.

For more information, contact Jan Brakefield, coordinator of college relations, UA College of Human Environmental Sciences, at 205/348-8132 or jbrakefi@ches.ua.edu.