In 2026, Dr. Emanuel Garcia Munoz was recognized as Teacher of the Year by the Rinker College of Business, an honor he called his greatest accomplishment of the year. Dr. Garcia Munoz is an assistant professor of economics In the Rinker College of Business. He teaches principles of microeconomics, American free enterprise, international economics, and growth and development economics. He earned his doctorate in economics from the University of Florida in 2023.
Being named Teacher of the Year is not an achievement that comes easily, so what drives this PBA educator? First things first, Dr. Garcia Munoz, who has just completed his third year of teaching at PBA, highlighted that he does not expect his students to remember every formula, theorem, or technical concept they encounter in his economics classes. What he truly hopes they remember is how to think.
“I always tell my students they’re never going to remember a formula they learned in class or a specific theorem,” he shared. “What I want them to take away is the economic way of thinking: how to break down decision-making into incentives, unintended consequences, trade-offs, and thinking properly through alternative options.”
Seeing Economics Everywhere
Dr. Garcia Munoz regularly brings current events into his classes, helping students understand how economic choices shape businesses, governments, and everyday life. For him, the goal is to help students see that economics is not just a concept, but active, practical, and directly connected to the world they will enter after graduation.
“Now more than ever, students want to know why what they learn matters and why they should care,” he said. “Once the students realize the concepts we learn about are not just abstract but are being manifested in their lives in ways that directly affect them, they’re much more likely to be bought in.”
Called to Care
What first drew Dr. Garcia Munoz to PBA was its Christ-centered mission and the opportunity to live closer to family. What keeps him here, he said, is the people.
“It’s the wonderful faculty and staff who both make my job a lot easier and are always encouraging and pushing me to be better, and it’s the fantastic students who I get to interact with in class that remind me why I love being a professor at a school like PBA.”
Dr. Garcia Munoz’s own experience as a student continues to shape the way he teaches. He pays attention to small details that can help students learn, like giving them time to write notes before discussions. Like research, teaching requires planning, flexibility, and the willingness to pivot when needed.
“We’re all individually small cogs in the larger work that God is doing in our students,” he added. “I just hope they remember that I cared: about their learning and about them as a person.”
To learn more about the Rinker College of Business, click here.
