Professor Amy Dunbar, who has been described as an enormously talented, passionate, unyielding champion for her students, has been awarded UConn’s Alumni Faculty Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching.Continue Reading
Faculty
Human Rights, Business Practices — and a Generation Ready to Make a Difference
Human Rights, Business Practices — and a Generation Ready to Make a Difference
During the 10 years that Rachel Chambers worked as a barrister, practicing employment and discrimination law in the British courts, she occasionally wore formal attire: a full-length robe and a white, horsehair wig.
No wig is required in her role today as a UConn postdoctoral fellow and professor, where her international legal experiences, recent work for the United Nations, and passion for social justice prepared her to teach BLAW 3252: “Corporate Social Impact and Responsibility.”Continue Reading
School of Business Mourns the Loss of Keith Johnson, Professor Emeritus
Keith B. Johnson, 87, professor emeritus and former head of the School of Business’ Finance Department, passed away peacefully at Windham Memorial Community Hospital on Aug. 21.
Johnson had worked in the School for 34 years before his retirement in 1996. While he enjoyed his many professional accomplishments, such as his time in Washington D.C. at the Securities and Exchange Commission as a staff economist and summers as a Ford Foundation Scholar at Harvard University, he was truly most proud of his work with all of his students at UConn, his obituary read.
Johnson is remembered fondly by his colleagues as an outstanding faculty member, a trusted confidant, a hard worker, and a cherished friend.
Tom O’Brien, professor emeritus, worked for Johnson and became a very good friend. Johnson, he said, was a person you could confide in. When a colleague was terminally ill, it was Johnson who was consistently there to provide comfort, O’Brien said. And when you needed a helping hand, he was exceptional.
“I lived in my home for 10 years and I’d accumulated a lot of stuff in my basement,’’ O’Brien said. “When I was preparing to move, Keith came over and worked harder than I did to get the stuff loaded and cleared out. I’ve never forgotten how much he helped me that day. Of all the people I call my friends, no one went out of their way for another than KJay.’’
During his tenure, the School of Business created the Ph.D. program in finance. Although Johnson was initially skeptical about initiating the program, no one worked harder to ensure its success, OBrien said.
“Keith was a guiding light in the School in the 1980s and ’90s, as it transitioned into a full-fledged research institution,’’ recalled Karla Fox, professor emeritus and former Interim Dean. “He was one of the hardest-working, honest individuals I have ever known, and a pleasure to work with. He will be missed.’’
“It is definitely a sad day and a great loss, not only to the Finance Department but to the School of Business and the University,’’ said accounting professor Mo Hussein. “KJay was a leader whose contributions were beyond the finance department. He was also a community leader. He organized an annual race to raise money for the hospital and several other local charities.
“KJay was one of the first colleagues outside the accounting department to reach out to me and invite my family to his home,’’ Hussein said. “He is one of those who created the special the friendly culture of the school. In his passing I lost a friend and a mentor.’’
Professor Caravella Wins Prestigious Marketing Award for Retail Research
Marketing professor Mary Caravella and three colleagues have been named the recipients of the American Marketing Association’s 2020 Louis W. Stern Award for research excellence.Continue Reading
Accounting Research About Small-Company Debt Resonates in Tough Economic Times
In a time of international economic crisis, like the one caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, a corporation’s debt burden can make the difference between survival and collapse. Continue Reading
Mentor and Innovator; OPIM’s Professor Marsden Retires
Professor Jim Marsden, who led the OPIM department for 15 years and helped put UConn’s information management program on the national map, has taught his last class before retirement.Continue Reading
Hometown Advantage? CEOs Tend to Acquire Companies in Familiar Stomping Grounds
UConn Today – Multinational conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway bought CEO Warren Buffett’s struggling hometown newspaper. Amazon acquired Whole Foods, which is headquartered in the same state where CEO Jeff Bezos grew up and owns a home.
New research shows these deals aren’t coincidences. Companies are 2.5 times more likely to acquire firms headquartered in the state where their CEO grew up than similar firms located elsewhere, the study found.
Coveted Class: Financial Services
The Instructor
Associate professor-in-residence in finance, Paul Gilson grew up in the Thames River town of Gravesend, 20 miles east of London, and earned a degree in mathematics from Bristol University. His plan was always to go on to a Ph.D. “But first,” he says, “I needed a job.” So he went to work in London for KPMG, the global accounting giant. His first day at the office, stock markets around the world collapsed in the Black Monday crash of 1987, still the greatest one-day loss by percentage in Dow history. During the long recovery that followed, KPMG was kept very busy, and Gilson gained extensive experience in mergers and acquisitions, a specialty of his department. “The late 1980s in London,” he says. “It was an exciting time.” Continue Reading
Auriemma Leadership Conference: ‘Do the Brave Thing’
Embrace disruption or be left behind.
That was one of the powerful messages shared by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Co-President George Barrios ’87, ’89 MBA, one of the keynote speakers at the Geno Auriemma UConn Leadership Conference in Stamford, Conn.Continue Reading
New Finance Chair Yiming Qian Is Among Nation’s Top Researchers
Those unfamiliar with the finance discipline sometimes underestimate the tremendous good that analysts and investors bring to the world, said Yiming Qian, who has just joined the faculty as a full professor and holds the new position of Toscano Family Chair in Finance.Continue Reading