RESEARCH AND TEACHING INTERESTS

 McConnell's teaching and research interests are in international business, industrial location, and regional growth and development. Publications and works in progress are focused upon Canada-U.S. trade and investment patterns, locational strategies of foreign-owned companies in the U.S., North American trade and industry policy, competitive strategy of firms in declining industry sectors, regional impacts of North American economic integration, prospects for a Western Hemisphere free trade area ("On extending NAFTA southward: the view from the south" - download the ppt file),  the impact of technology transfer on small and medium-sized companies and the surrounding regional economy, the cost of import protection and increased national and border security on U.S. manufacturing establishments, and the cost and business implications of efforts to protect the security of America's seaports and international commerce.
 

EXTERNAL FUNDING

 More than $1.44 million has been received as financial support for research and includes grants and/or contracts from the National Science Foundation,the U.S. Small Business Administration, the Economic Development Administration, the Secretary's Office of the U.S. Department of Commerce, the U.S. Department of Education, the Canadian Government, the Institute for Public Policy Alternatives, the New York State Sea Grant Institute, various private- and public-sector firms and agencies within New York State, and the University at Buffalo. In addition, more than $225K has been received for educationally related activities.
 

COURSES TAUGHT

Graduate
• Introduction to International Business and World Trade
• Spatial Problems of Multinational Corporations and Nation States
• Industrial Geography
• Macroeconomic Development
• Graduate Research Design and Implementation
• Network Analysis and Transportation Systems
• Flows in Transportation Systems
• Seminar on the Emerging North American Trade Area: Research Problems

Undergraduate
• Geography of International Business
• Industrial Geography
• Contemporary Problems in the United States: A Geographer's Perspective
• Contemporary Problems in the United States: A Cognate Course in American Pluralism
• Geography of North America (Canada and the U.S.)
• Introduction to Economic Geography
• Introduction to Human Geography
• Transportation Geography
• Problems and Methods in Spatial Analysis
• Research Design and Survey Research Methods
• Seminar on the Canada-United States Free Trade Area and Agreement