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Finance Department
Finance students don't just study money, they study how money interacts with risk and time. Understanding this relationship is critical to helping individuals, companies and governments make wise decisions about managing capital, investing or borrowing funds, optimizing returns, and staying financially sound.
Degree Options in Finance
Degree Options in Finance
At Isenberg, finance students learn how to raise debt and equity capital, evaluate profitability and riskiness of projects, value small businesses and large corporations, and make traditional and alternative investments in global financial markets. In all our programs, we are preparing students to practice finance in the 21st century.
Isenberg School of Management Finance Conference
Isenberg School of Management Finance Conference
The keynote speaker at the inaugural conference on Friday, May 9, 2025, will be Bryan Kelly, the Frederick Frank ’54 and Mary C. Tanner Professor of Finance at the Yale School of Management and Head of Machine Learning at AQR Capital Management. He is also a Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research and the Associate Director of Yale SOM’s International Center for Finance. Professor Kelly’s primary research fields are asset pricing, machine learning, and financial econometrics.
Center for International Securities and Derivative Markets
Center for International Securities and Derivative Markets
Our high-profile Center for International Securities and Derivative Markets (CISDM) underscores our longstanding leadership in alternative investments education and research. Through CISDM, students gain access to the Morningstar CISDM Database, the oldest hedge fund and commodity trading advisor data base on the market. And they gain an “inside industry” edge into how those markets perform and evolve.
The Isenberg Finance Department is committed to delivering high quality research and teaching financial markets, financial institutions, and finance decision-making.
Finance is a broad field that includes both theory and practice. Our prominent faculty members are renowned for their theoretical and empirical work in a broad range of areas. Our faculty members research a broad range of topics: asset pricing/investments, hedge funds, mutual funds, risk management, stock market anomalies, international investments, tax evasion, options, fixed income, derivatives, gender representation in business, financial econometrics, corporate finance and governance, fintech, cybersecurity, and machine learning applications in finance.
We encourage you to explore our internationally renowned faculty members’ work across all dimensions of our diverse society.
Finance is a broad field that includes both theory and practice. Our prominent faculty members are renowned for their theoretical and empirical work in a broad range of areas. Our faculty members research a broad range of topics: asset pricing/investments, hedge funds, mutual funds, risk management, stock market anomalies, international investments, tax evasion, options, fixed income, derivatives, gender representation in business, financial econometrics, corporate finance and governance, fintech, cybersecurity, and machine learning applications in finance.
We encourage you to explore our internationally renowned faculty members’ work across all dimensions of our diverse society.
Fousseni Chabi-Yo
Berthiaume Endowed Professor in Business Administration, Chair of Finance Department, PhD Co-coordinator, Professor
Soroosh Azizi
Lecturer
Ben S. Branch
Professor Emeritus
Fousseni Chabi-Yo
Berthiaume Endowed Professor in Business Administration, Chair of Finance Department, PhD Co-coordinator, Professor
Jeffrey Clark
Lecturer, David Gaunt Faculty Fellow in Real Estate; M.Fin. Academic Program Director
Robert Feingold
Lecturer
John J. Griffin
Lecturer
Lina Han
Assistant Professor
Simon Huang
Assistant Professor
Adam T. Jørring
Assistant Professor
Nikunj Kapadia, PhD
Associate Dean of Graduate Programs, Professor of Finance
Hossein B. Kazemi
Director, CISDM & Michael and Cheryl Philipp Endowed Professor
Nelson Lacey
Professor Emeritus
Bing Liang
Charles P. McQuaid Endowed Professor
Wenting Ma
Assistant Professor
Marco Macchiavelli
Assistant Professor and PhD Co-Coordinator
Anya Mkrtchyan
Judith Wilkinson O’Connell Faculty Fellow, Associate Professor
Sanjay Nawalkha
Professor
Thomas O'Brien
Dean Emeritus
Chancellor Javier A. Reyes
Chancellor, University of Massachusetts Amherst; Professor of Finance
Jeffrey G. Robert
Lecturer
Seminars and Speakers
https://www.isenberg.umass.edu/finance-department/seminars
Finance Department News
All School NewsView all news
Isenberg Welcomes New PhD Candidates
Isenberg Welcomes New PhD Candidates
The 10 new PhD candidates represent several countries and academic backgrounds, and they are excited to contribute to the Isenberg community through
Isenberg Welcomes New PhD Candidates
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Faculty Research: Applying Cutting-edge Asset Pricing Research to Central Banks and Classrooms
Faculty Research: Applying Cutting-edge Asset Pricing Research to Central Banks and Classrooms
When the Bank of England adopted a new tool to monitor financial market risk earlier this year, its foundation came not from a government agency or a
Faculty Research: Applying Cutting-edge Asset Pricing Research to Central Banks and Classrooms
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Isenberg Student Teams Win Big at Berthiaume Center for Entrepreneurship’s 2025 Innovation Challenge
Isenberg Student Teams Win Big at Berthiaume Center for Entrepreneurship’s 2025 Innovation Challenge
On April 24, 2025, Isenberg’s Berthiaume Center for Entrepreneurship hosted the final round of its annual Innovation Challenge, featuring several
Isenberg Student Teams Win Big at Berthiaume Center for Entrepreneurship’s 2025 Innovation Challenge
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Professional Organizations
Professional Organizations
We encourage our students to get involved with industry now! There are many finance-related organizations that students can turn to for learning and networking.
Isenberg School of Management
Go to: www.linkedin.com/isenberg-school-of-management-umass-amherst
See More on LinkedIn
📣 Learn About Isenberg’s Online & Hybrid MBA
🗓️ When: Thursday, January 08, 2026
⏱️ Time: 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm
💻 Where: Online
Join us for an interactive overview of Isenberg’s Online and Hybrid MBA programs. Connect with a faculty member, a current student, and members of our support team to learn what makes our program exceptional. This session is your opportunity to ask questions about the student experience, online learning, career resources, curriculum, and the many tools available to help you succeed.
🌟 Bonus: One lucky registrant will receive an application fee waiver!
🔗 Register today: https://lnkd.in/eWQnZ8xi
#MBA #OnlineLearning #HybridLearning #IsenbergMBA #GraduatePrograms
☕👟 From Coffee to Kicks! This fall, 60 Isenberg students went behind the scenes at New Balance and Keurig Dr Pepper through Office of Career Success \(OCS\) career treks, connecting with alumni, exploring diverse career paths, and seeing how classroom learning translates into real-world impact.
From sports innovation labs to supply chain operations, these immersive visits helped students discover new opportunities & career possibilities!
Read more: https://loom.ly/HPSj6Iw
#IsenbergCareers #CareerSuccess #OCS #IsenbergAlumni
⛳ @[Isenberg Women in Business](urn:li:organization:48541163) Members Learn the Power of ‘Golf Networking’
For the second time this year, our Women in Business \(WiB\) members hit the links at Amherst Golf Club for a day of "Golf Networking" with Dean Massey. This tradition, which launched in April and returned this fall, is all about breaking barriers and building professional trust in a casual, empowering environment.
Whether it’s in the classroom or on the green, we are proud to support our students as they build connections that last a lifetime.
🔗 Read more about this incredible experience and the power of golf networking here: https://loom.ly/8x3u0Lg
#Isenberg #UMassAmherst #WomenInBusiness #Networking #GolfLife
Meet Isenberg senior Elijah Khasabo ’26, who is building a million-dollar startup while earning his marketing degree. As cofounder and CEO of Vidovo, he’s scaling a creator-powered platform featured in Fortune and Yahoo! Finance, all while balancing life as a full-time student.
👉 Read how Isenberg is helping him turn his vision into scale: https://loom.ly/ojTXiZ4
#IsenbergUMass #StudentLeadership #UMassAmherst #IsenbergImpact #GenZEntrepreneur
Contact Us
Department of Finance
Room 226
Isenberg School of Management
121 Presidents Drive
Amherst, MA 01003