Encyclopedia Dubuque
"Encyclopedia Dubuque is the online authority for all things Dubuque, written by the people who know the city best.”
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Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
PERSAUD, Alexander
(Dubuque, IA-- ) In 2021, Persaud was an Assistant Professor of Economics at the Robins School of Business at the University of Richmond. He had completed his PhD in economics at the University of Michigan in 2017 with his fields being development, economic history, and labor. He received the Best New Researcher Prize from the Economic History Society (2017) and the Arthur H. Cole Award for best article in The Journal of Economic History (2019). For reasons that would have been known to many Dubuque residents, when he was introduced to the staff of the university, his introduction was turned into a "Jeopardy" question.
Persaud was the valedictorian in 2005 at DUBUQUE SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL. A 2009 graduate of Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, he was pursing his doctorate degree when in January 2014 he took an online test and then was selected randomly for the next step in becoming a contestant on the immensely popularly television program, "Jeopardy." The process continued with an interview, written examination, and test game in March 2014 at a hotel in Chicago. He learned in late June, 2014 that he had been chosen to compete.
Photo courtesy: The show was taped during the first week of August, 2014 in Los Angeles. In two days, the show's production filmed five games each day. Persaud was called on the first day for the every last game of the day-a show that would appear on a Friday. The second day, he competed in games 2-4 for broadcasts on Monday through Wednesday. Contestants had to bring changes of clothing for each game.
Persaud's shows aired in October, 2014. He won $63,000.
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Source:
Alexander Persaud, Where Are They Now? (supplement to the Telegraph Herald) August 2021, p. 17