UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Twenty members of the Penn State Smeal College of Business faculty received promotions on July 1.
Tenure-track faculty promotions
Saurabh Bansal (supply chain and information systems), Matthew Gustafson (finance), Karl Muller (accounting), Eva Steiner (risk management), Jiro Yoshida (risk management) and Alexey Zhdanov (finance) were all promoted to the rank of full professor.
Kai Du (accounting), Siyuan Liu (supply chain and information systems), Jed Neilson (accounting) and Giang Nguyen (finance) all received tenure and were promoted to the rank of associate professor.
Bansal’s research focuses on three dimensions of supply chain and operations management: model and data driven understanding for how business managers perceive and estimate uncertainties; descriptive models for how they react to these uncertainties; and prescriptive optimization-based models for how they should react to the uncertainties. Bansal earned a doctorate in risk analysis and decision making from the University of Texas at Austin and bachelor’s in industrial engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology.
Gustafson’s research examines topics in corporate finance, financial intermediation and the economic impacts of the climate and weather. Gustafson holds a doctorate in finance and master's in business analytics in applied economics from the University of Rochester, a master’s in applied statistics from Villanova and a bachelor’s in economics from Swarthmore College.
Muller researches the properties and implications of differences in accounting principles and disclosures across countries. He earned a doctorate in accounting from the University of Illinois and a bachelor’s in accounting from the University of Texas at Austin.
Steiner’s research broadly explores real estate finance and economics. She holds a doctorate in land economy (real estate finance) and a master’s of philosophy in real estate finance (real estate investment) from the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England, and a bachelor’s in business administration (tourism and hospitality) from the University of Heilbronn in Heilbronn, Germany.
Yoshida’s research areas include real estate finance, macroeconomics and asset pricing. He holds a doctorate in business administration and a master’s in business administration from the University of California, Berkeley, a master’s in real estate from MIT and a bachelor’s in urban engineering from the University of Tokyo.
Zhdanov’s research expertise lies in real options corporate finance and empirical asset pricing. He holds a doctorate in finance (strategy) and a master’s in business administration from the University of Rochester, an MBA in management from the Vlerick Business School in Ghent, Belgium, and a bachelor’s in systems engineering from Saint Petersburg State Technical University in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Du’s research lies at the intersection of financial accounting, capital markets, and information economics. He holds a doctorate, a master of philosophy (MPhil), and a master’s in accounting from Yale, a master’s in economics from Georgetown, and a bachelor’s in finance from Peking University in Beijing, China.
Liu’s research interests are in the intersection of computer science and business analytics with a focus on trajectory analytics and heterogeneous behavior models. His expertise lies in trajectory analytics, heterogeneous behavior models, mobile data mining, business analytics, AI for business and new technology for the digital economy. He earned a doctorate from the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, China, and a doctorate from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong.
Neilson’s research focuses on the causes and consequences of corporate disclosure, financial reporting and financial regulation. He holds a doctorate in business administration (accounting) from the University of Michigan, a master’s in accounting and a bachelor’s in accounting from the University of Utah.
Nguyen’s area of research is in market microstructure (liquidity, price discovery, market efficiency) with a focus on fixed income markets. She earned a doctorate in economics from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, an MBA in finance and investments from George Washington University, and a bachelor’s in accounting and finance from Monash University and the University of Queensland in Australia.
Non-tenure-line faculty promotions
Matthew Checchio (marketing) and Cassandra Ghinos (risk management) have been promoted to assistant teaching professor.
Checchio teaches courses in business marketing, marketing strategy, sports marketing, digital marketing and a digital marketing practicum course. He earned a master’s in sport management and business from Drexel University and a bachelor’s in business administration with a major in marketing from Penn State.
Ghinos teaches courses in international business operations. She is also the faculty adviser to Smeal’s International Business Association, a student-run organization. She holds a master’s in global marketing and finance from the Thunderbird School of Global Management and bachelors in Spanish and economics from Dickinson College.
Svetla Vitanova (finance) and David Lenze (management and organization) have been promoted to associate teaching professor.
Vitanova teaches courses in multinational financial management, strategic financial management, financial markets and institutions and financial management of the business enterprise. She earned a doctorate in economics from Brown University, a master’s in economics from Central European University in Vienna, Austria, and a bachelor’s in economics from Sofia University in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Lenze teaches courses related to management consulting, organizational leadership, corporate innovation and entrepreneurship. He is the faculty director for Smeal’s Nittany Lion Consulting Group experiential learning program. Lenze holds a master’s degree in business administration and a bachelor’s in architectural engineering from Penn State.
Jamey Darnell (management and organization), Jennifer Eury (management and organization) Jeanette Miller (management and organization), Rashmi Sharma (supply chain and information systems) and Johanna Slot (marketing) have all been promoted to associate clinical professor.
Darnell teaches courses in corporate innovation and entrepreneurship, new venture creation and the entrepreneurial mindset. He is the assistant director of the ENTI minor. He earned a doctorate of business administration (DBA) from the University of Florida, an MBA in international management from the Thunderbird School of Global Management and a bachelor’s in international business (Italian) from Pepperdine University.
Eury teaches courses in management and organization, ethical leadership, and leadership and change in organizations. She is the undergraduate management major program coordinator and an affiliate faculty in the Rock Ethics Institute. Eury also studies topics related to teaching and learning in management education. She holds a doctorate in higher education, a master’s in business, a master’s in higher education, and a bachelor’s in advertising-public relations, all from Penn State.
Miller teaches courses in new venture creation, managing a startup, entrepreneurial investment and entrepreneurial opportunity creation. She is the associate director of the Farrell Center for Corporate Innovation and Entrepreneurship. She is also the faculty director of Smeal’s new Doctorate of Business Administration program. She earned a DBA from Georgia State University, a master’s in international business from Webster University and a bachelor’s in economics from the University of Texas at Austin.
Sharma teaches courses in predictive analytics for business, programming skills for business analytics, supply chain analytics and demand fulfillment. She is also the managing director of the Laboratory for Economics Management and Auctions. She holds a doctorate in supply chain and information systems and an MBA in supply chain management from Penn State, a master’s of computer applications from Indira Gandhi National Open University in New Delhi, India, and a bachelor’s in mathematics, statistics and computer applications from the University of Rajasthan in Jaipur, India.
Slot teaches courses in advanced retailing and merchandise management, marketing strategy, new product development and introduction to marketing at the honors level. She also manages the Jacobs Fellows Program, an exclusive program for seniors with an interest in luxury retail and high-end fashion. She earned a doctorate in marketing and a master’s in marketing research from Tilburg University in Tilburg, Netherlands, and a master’s in international business (marketing, services and information) from Maastricht University in Maastricht, Netherlands.
Scott Collins was promoted to clinical professor in the Department of Accounting. He teaches courses related to financial accounting, managerial accounting and accounting information systems. He also serves as the director of the one-year Master of Accounting Program. Collins holds a doctorate in management from Claremont Graduate University, a MBA (accounting) from Penn State, an MBA in management (finance) from Claremont and a bachelor’s in business-economics (accounting) from the University of California, Santa Barbara.