Contact Information
Anil Puri, Ph.D., Director of the Woods Center
Dr. Puri served as the Dean of the College of Business and Economics at California State University, Fullerton from 1998 to 2016. Prior to becoming Dean in 1998, Dr. Puri was department chair and professor of economics at California State University, Fullerton since 1977 and in 2018, was honored provost and vice president emeritus of academic affairs. He has previously served and counseled public boards and has been a Director of Mitel (Delaware), Inc. since May 2006 and of Crexendo, Inc. since November 2008. Dr. Puri is a noted economist and scholar who has served as the Executive Vice President of the Western Economic Association International, the second largest professional association of economists in the United States and is a member of the American Economic Association, and the National Association of Business Economists.
As acting Director of the Woods Center for Economic Analyses & Forecasting, Dr. Puri has presented the California State University, Fullerton Annual Economic Forecasts since 1993 alongside colleague and Co-Director, Mira Farka, Ph.D. He is a member of the Western
Mira Farka, Ph.D., Co-Director of the Woods Center
D r. Mira Farka joined the Department of Economics at California State University , Fullerton in August 2005. She received her Ph.D. in Economics from Columbia University , New York , in 2004 with concentration in financial economics, monetary policy, and applied macroeconomics. Dr. Farka’s research interests focus on applied topics in the fields of macroeconomics and finance with emphasis on asset prices and monetary policy. She has published in leading academic journals such as the Journal of Business and Economic Statistics, Journal of Empirical Economics, European Financial Managements, and Review of Financial Economics. Dr. Farka received the 2010 CSUF Faculty Recognition Award for Scholarly and Creative Activity, awarded for outstanding academic publications.
As the Co-Director for the Institute of Economic and Environmental Studies at CSUF, Dr. Farka has developed national and regional models that are used to forecast economic indicators, analyze economic trends, and provide policy recommendations. She is widely known for developing and presenting the CSUF Economic Forecasts for the Nation, Southern California and Orange County in the CSUF Economic Forecast Conference (annual and midyear update). These are two of the most popular economic conferences in Southern California , drawing large and diverse audience from the business community, policy circles, and academia. Her expertise in economic and financial forecasting is frequently sought by governmental and private entities such as: Orange County Office of the Treasurer, Riverside County Office of the Treasurer, KNN Public Finance, and Deutsche Bank. Dr. Farka is routinely quoted by various media sources including the Los Angeles Times, Orange County Register, Orange County Business Journal, OC Metro, Valley News, and California Commerce. She is frequently invited as a key note speaker on economic and financial issues by various business, government, and educational organizations.
Prior to joining Cal State Fullerton, Dr. Farka worked as a senior economist for Deutsche Bank, New York , were she was responsible for developing economic forecast models for key national and international macroeconomic variables, currency forecasts, and financial market analyses. She was responsible for presenting these analyses to various clients, institutional investors, central banks, international organizations, and the media. While at Deutsche Bank, Dr. Farka published daily, weekly and monthly reports which were featured on two flagship Wall Street publications: Deutsche Bank Exchange Rate Perspectives and Deutsche Bank FX Weekly .