“Thanks to successful development initiatives and generous alumni, the number of faculty fellows Lerner College can recognize and support increased again in 2018,” announced Lerner College Dean Bruce Weber this summer. “The objective is to acknowledge faculty members who are productive scholars, publishing in top journals, committed to our students’ success, and contributing to the college’s research environment.”
Lerner’s new faculty fellows are:
- Xiaoxia Lou (pictured second from left), finance, appointed Cleaver Faculty Fellow, supported by a gift from Craig and Meghan Cleaver, Class of ‘98
- Katalin Takacs Haynes (third from left), management, appointed Bancroft Construction Faculty Fellow, supported by a gift from Greg and Karen Sawka, Class of ’94 (MBA) and ’90 respectively
- George Tsakumis (at far left), accounting, and Fei Xie (at far right), finance, appointed Iannaccone Faculty Fellows, supported by a gift from Chris and Michele Iannaccone, Class of ’84 and ’86 respectively
Each fellow will receive a stipend or funding of summer support, and a research expense fund. The terms are two years and are extendable. Read on to learn about how these fellowships will help each of our faculty fellows in their work and research in the coming years:
Xiaoxia Lou
Lou, who is an associate professor of finance, described her appointment as “a great honor.”
“I also feel very encouraged,” she continued. “It clearly indicates that scholarship is valued by our college and university.”
Lou said that funding from this fellowship will enable her to attend more academic conferences. She added that she may also be able to hire a research and teaching assistant as a result.
Lou’s most recent research publications include “Horizon Pricing” in the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis and “Short-Horizon Beta or Long-Horizon Alpha?” in the Journal of Portfolio Management. Her current research topics include media reinforcement in international financial markets, and enforcement waves and spillover effects.
Katalin Takacs Haynes
“I am humbled and grateful to have been selected for this research fellowship,” Haynes, associate professor of management, said. “The fellowship will allow me to boost two of my research projects.
“In one project my co-authors and I explore the micro-foundations of corruption,” Haynes explained. “We would like to uncover some of the reasons corruption persists in many parts of the world, in spite of wide-ranging efforts to suppress or change it.”
Since this research requires Haynes’ team to conduct in-person interviews in a country that scores high on corruption indices, the research stipend and funding will help cover the costs associated with travel.
“The second project that the fellowship award will help with is in the area of artificial intelligence,” Haynes continued. “In this project, I investigate the risks, as well as some ethical and moral considerations associated with artificial intelligence.” The fellowship will support the purchase of software needed to analyze data, as well as, again, travel costs for collecting qualitative data.
George Tsakumis
Associate professor of accounting Tsakumis said, “I am both honored and humbled to be named an Iannaccone Faculty Fellow. I would like to express my sincere appreciation and gratitude for the Iannccones’ generosity in helping to establish this position.”
“The support from the Iannaccone Faculty Fellowship will help greatly in continuing my research agenda,” Tsakumis continued, “which focuses on accountants’ judgment and decision making in financial reporting settings.”
His paper, “The Impact of CFOs’ Incentives and Earnings Management Ethics on their Financial Reporting Decisions: The Mediating Role of Moral Disengagement,” is forthcoming in the Journal of Business Ethics.
Fei Xie
“It is a privilege to be selected,” Xie, associate professor of finance, said of the fellowship. “I am very grateful for the support and recognition from the college.
“I plan to use the fellowship to support some of my travel to conferences where I present my research,” Xie continued. His research in the field of empirical corporate finance includes corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions, boards of directors, executive compensation and more. Xie’s 2007 paper, “Corporate Governance and Acquirer Returns,” was the Journal of Finance’s second-most cited article of that year.
In 2017, Wendy Smith, professor of management, and John D’Arcy, associate professor of MIS, were recognized as Deutsch Faculty Fellows. Previously, Xiao Fang, professor of MIS, Adam Fleischhacker, associate professor of operations management, Paul Laux, professor finance, and Harry Wang, professor of MIS, were recognized as JPMorgan Chase Faculty Fellows.