Mendoza Welcomes New Faculty

Blessed Basil Moreau, founder of the Congregation of Holy Cross, once said, "Education is the art of helping young people to completeness."

Of course, his ardent educational vision formed the foundation of the congregation and continues to guide every aspect of the University of Notre Dame.

With Moreau's charge informing their efforts, 14 new faculty members joined the Mendoza College of Business in fall 2015. (Sriram Somanchi, management instructor, is not pictured.)

They are especially diverse in terms of experience, education, personal background and interests.

This diversity — along with the excellence and dedication Notre Dame has always required from its professors — promises to advance Mendoza students to completeness. Just as Father Moreau envisioned.

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Emily Garbinsky, Assistant Professor, Department of Marketing

Ph.D., Stanford University;
BS, Carnegie Mellon University

"I study the psychology of consumer financial decision making. When it comes to
managing finances, it's easy for people to feel overwhelmed and out of control. The goal of my research is to help consumers regain control and make better financial decisions."

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McKenzie Rees, Postdoctoral Teaching and Research Associate

Ph.D., University of Utah;
BS, Utah State University

"Too often good people do bad things without realizing it. Understanding why unethical behavior so often goes unnoticed by those who engage in it and what can be done to overcome such oversight can help mitigate the ethical challenges that are so common in today's workplace."

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Samuel Ranzilla, Associate Professional Specialist, Department of Accountancy

BS, University of Detroit

"After my retirement from a Big 4 accounting firm, I am pleased to be back at ND, teaching the global language of business, accounting, and how auditing serves the capital markets."

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Brittany Solomon, Research Assistant Professor, Department of Management

Ph.D., MA, Washington University;
BA, Honors College, University of Arizona

"I've always been fascinated by interpersonal perceptions and how (dis)agreement among individuals influences real-world behaviors. Thus,
the inherent connection between management and psychology provides
a perfect fit for my research and teaching interests."

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Fr. Eric Zimmer, Associate Professional Specialist, Department of Management

Ph.D., University of Pennyslvania; MBA, University of Chicago;
M. Div. & Licentiate in Sacred Theology, Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley;
MA, University of Minnesota; BA, Loyola University, New Orleans

"I chose communication as a scholarly focus because it is central to every human endeavor. Knowing how we best communicate helps me to better proclaim the Gospel and, as a teacher, to assist others in fulfilling their full potential as children of God."

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Scott Nestler, Associate Professional Specialist, Department of Management

Ph.D., University of Maryland; MSS, Army War College;
MS, Naval Postgraduate School; BS, Lehigh University

"My mantra (borrowed from Kelly Corrigan) is, ‘Make yourself useful, doing something hard, with good people.' Teaching business analytics courses at Notre Dame is a great way for me to achieve this."

Taehyun Kim, Assistant Professor, Department of Finance

Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign;
MA, BA, Yonsei University

"Government policies can drastically influence private agents' economic behaviors. The main challenge in this literature is the endogenous nature of government actions. My research utilizes novel empirical strategies to identify the causality of government actions on important corporate decisions."

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Peter Kelly, Assistant Professor, Department of Finance

Ph.D., Yale University;
BA, University of Notre Dame (‘09)

"Each year, new studies appear that suggest psychology plays a substantial role in financial markets. I find psychology fascinating and will continue to add to this growing body of evidence."

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Andreas Neuhier, Assistant Professor, Department of Finance

Ph.D., Northwestern University,
BA, University of Augsburg

"Financial markets are constantly evolving and innovating. This innovation is posing new challenges to researchers, practitioners and regulators at the same time. Analyzing and understanding this process is challenging and fascinating. The rapid pace of innovation guarantees that research will always stay very exciting."

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Mary Bales, Research Assistant Professor, Department of Management

Ph.D., MS, BS, Purdue University

"Our Faith and Well-Being at Work research reflects the community and critical inquiry foundations of the University. Our interdisciplinary team researches professionals who serve vulnerable populations to understand the development of professional flourishing, as well as the consequential flourishing of the served individuals."

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Jason Reed, Assistant Professional Specialist, Department of Finance

Ph.D., M.A, Wayne State University;
BA, BS, Grand Valley State University

"At my undergraduate university I had an economics professor who challenged my way of thinking. Since then, I've focused on understanding the relationship between economics and behavioral choices and hope to inspire the next generation of economists to do the same."

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Yiting Deng, Assistant Professor, Department of Marketing

Ph.D., MS, Duke University;
MA, BA, BS, Peking University

"I was drawn to the rigorous nature and broad applications of marketing when choosing to pursue a Ph.D. I especially value how academic research in marketing solves problems observed in the real business world using a variety of techniques."

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Qiping Xu, Assistant Professor, Department of Finance

Ph.D., MBA, University of Chicago; MA, The Ohio State University;
BA, Zhejiang University

"My job combines constant learning, exploration of the unknowns, and knowledge sharing of the financial world. It feels amazing to decode such a delicate industry through numbers. "