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Faculty Insights

WSB Faculty: How Is Your Work Helping Shape Better Business Leaders?

By Clare Becker

September 11, 2023

Grainger Hall exterior

The start of a school year means new beginnings, new goals, and new ideas. There’s not just one path into business, and a Wisconsin School of Business education prepares students to lead no matter where their passions take them—from their first day of class to that first day in a new job.

As Business Badgers embark on that strenuous-yet-rewarding journey this fall, new WSB faculty share how their teaching and research benefit future generations of business leaders.

Anyi Ma, Assistant Professor, Management and Human Resources

“Increasingly, we see that businesses are taking a stand on various social issues. My work helps leaders think about what their values are, what kind of business leader they want to be, and how their businesses can be vehicles for the greater good.”

Erik Mayer, Assistant Professor, Finance

“As a professor, my goal is to provide students with the knowledge and understanding of the financial system necessary to succeed in the business world. My research on firms’ and entrepreneurs’ interactions with financial institutions pairs well with this goal and adds depth to the classroom experience.”

Anthony DeFusco, Associate Professor, Finance

“A lot of my research studies interactions between financial markets and regulations. My hope is that my research would help business leaders to have a better understanding of the broader context in which they are operating.”

Ewelina Forker, Assistant Professor, Accounting and Information Systems

“Through my research and teaching, I hope to help leaders decipher what data and information is relevant for decision-making and effectively evaluate the costs and benefits of a particular choice based on sound theory and rigorous empirical analysis.”

Tarun Kushwaha, Professor, Marketing

“I deeply care about my students’ learning and want to ensure they are best prepared to deal with the rapidly changing job marketplace. I approach my teaching with 3T principles: I provide students with powerful tools and frameworks, state-of-the-art techniques, and key takeaways. I train business leaders of tomorrow to deal with uncertainty and complexity using structured and analytical thinking.”

Philip Mulder, Assistant Professor, Risk and Insurance

“Anyone going into business needs to think about how climate change will affect their industry. I hope my research will help leaders in the private sector see potential solutions so that we can adapt to these risks.”


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