Cristina Pintado’s economics course goes beyond monetary theory to prepare students with career-ready communication skills

When you walk into Cristina Pintado’s classroom it is abuzz with upbeat music and the sound of student conversations. It feels like friends are gathered here for an event rather than a rigorous economics course.

Pintado, lecturer in economics, smiles and chats with students who, on this day, will present their teamwork projects in a competitive format. Student peers will vote for the best presentation.

Though it feels like a joyful community, the rubric is strict in Econ 592: International Monetary Policy and Theory. The presentations must be engaging, and teams must articulate ideas well — no one should be reading from presentation slides. Pintado asks students to imagine that they are presenting to a professional audience. She also requires that presenters engage their audience in a discussion. 

Feedback from students in an anonymous survey helps each team learn what they can do to adjust their presentation style to help the audience better understand their work. Some students take Pintado’s class more than once in order to tighten their presentation skills, knowing they can take these skills with them into the workforce.

Presentation topics are aligned with contemporary challenges. Pintado provides economic headlines from major news outlets and asks students to find a big question that they are most intrigued by. “It’s about discovery,“ Pintado said. “They have to write 10 questions that will answer their big question.” The coursework gives students knowledge about sources. For example, students may need to go to the Federal Reserve, or the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to find information that supports their research.

In this fall 2025 course, 12 teams competed and a pool of five finalists were selected through a vote from the class cohort. The winning team made a presentation and a video about the housing market. Others presented on AI and the labor market, stable coins, private credit markets, and interest rates.

“The housing market is really important to young people across the country right now, but with so much going on, it's hard to stay up-to-date with trends and prices,” Matthew Philbin, fourth-year economics and linguistics major (and winning team member) said. “We wanted to both teach about how the dynamics of the market work and how people our age can set themselves up for success in a historical market.”

Drew Martin, third-year international economics major said, “We decided that we could each investigate a certain factor (labor market activity, the lock-in effect, etc.), pool everything together, and then polish up a final product that would keep viewers entertained.” 

Pintado says students are worried about finding jobs. “Soft skills are so important; I want to help them learn, both the soft skills and the underlying economic principles, Pintado said. 

“I learned how to be to-the-point in presenting my findings without getting lost in the details,” Martin said. “I envision myself presenting a pitch deck in a boardroom in 20 years, still using the presentation skills that I learned in Econ 592.” 

Pintado was in the banking industry prior to joining SDSU in 2018. She has taught Econ 592 for five years and she often hears from students, post-graduation, about how the course has made a difference in their lives.

Both Martin and Philbin give high praise for Pintado. “Her experience in banking, with her anecdotes and enormous banking network, give students an indelible experience,” Martin said.

“She is always curious to learn from her students and creates opportunities for students to make their voices heard.” Pintado’s many years of business experience comes through in her lectures, according to Philbin, and he is a “big fan.”

“Market analysis is a useful skill no matter where one can apply it, but this project also solidified our abilities in teamwork, communication, and presentation,” Philbin said.