Faculty News

Isenberg faculty have secured a national reputation as thought leaders and advisors to industry. Adept in both the classroom and research, they excel in operations and quality management, alternative investments, data analytics, entrepreneurship, sport marketing, business leadership, and many other areas.

Management Professor Views Failures as Critical to Success

October 03, 2014

On September 15, Charles Manz, Nirenberg Professor of Leadership, explored the failure-success dynamic in a keynote presentation, "Turning Failure into a Gateway to Success," at a Crisis Management Boot Camp for PR professionals at the historic Yale Club in Manhattan.

Marketing Faculty Member and Students Bring Breast Cancer Message to Retailers

October 01, 2014

In September, Cynthia Barstow, Isenberg marketing lecturer and founder of the campus group Protect Our Breasts, took a group of PoB students to the Natural Products Expo East in Baltimore where she spoke to retailers about the dangers of chemicals in our every day products.

Professors Coordinate Workshop on Cybersecurity Risk Analysis

September 18, 2014

Four professors (three Isenberg and one from Engineering) organized the workshop "Cybersecurity Risk Analysis for Enterprise Security" on September 19th at MIT's Sloan School of Management.

Two Professors Honored with Endowed Faculty Positions

August 29, 2014

Hossein B. Kazemi, a Professor of Finance at Isenberg, and Christopher P. Agoglia, Chair of Isenberg's Department of Accounting, have been named to endowed professorial positions.

Marketing Department Is Driving Force behind National Conference and Seminar

June 19, 2014

Three Isenberg marketing professors-Easwar Iyer, George Milne, and Elizabeth Miller-excelled as co-chairs of the American Marketing Association's annual Marketing and Public Policy Conference in Boston on June 5-7. The Conference, at the Omni Parker House, attracted over 200 participants, including attendees from academe, industry, and the policy world.

Accounting Banquet Honors Students, Alumni, and Educators

April 25, 2014

Shelly Duncan '92, a partner in Deloitte's Technology, Media & Telecommunications practice, was principal honoree at Isenberg's Annual Accounting Banquet on April 17. Duncan received the department's Accounting Alumni Award, its alumnus of the year honor. A second alumnus, Jason Janoff '93, accepted an award for his commitment to diversity initiatives at Isenberg. Catherine Lowry '96, 01' MBA, a senior lecturer in the department, was honored with the Massachusetts Society of Certified Public Accountants' Outstanding Educator of the Year Award. And 60 students received scholarships and other accolades for academic excellence and community service.

Isenberg Professor's Book Fosters Idea-Driven Organizations

April 16, 2014

Many academics study ideas and innovation, but few focus on generating ideas on an organization's "front lines," where much of the work gets done, observes Alan Robinson, a professor in Isenberg's Department of Operations and Information Management. In a well-conceived idea system, in fact, those front-line insights, should account for 80% of an organization's overall improvement, notes Robinson in his just-published book, The Idea-Driven Organization.

Navigating Crisis News in the Moment: News Anchor Dave Madsen Speaks to Nagurney's Logistics Class

March 26, 2014

Now in its second year, Anna Nagurney's innovative course, Humanitarian Logistics and Healthcare, introduces cutting-edge crisis management and planning skills to Isenberg and other UMass Amherst students. "My goal is to give our students the tools and mindset to act decisively and adaptably in human crises like storms and earthquakes, food shortages, financial contagions, and pandemics," explains Nagurney, who is John F. Smith Memorial Professor of Operations Management. Two high-profile visitors to the course in March were UMass Amherst family and sports medicine physician Pierre Rouzier and Springfield Channel 40 ABC/Fox6 news anchor Dave Madsen. This news story focuses on Dr. Rouzier's relief work in Haiti and at the 2013 Boston Marathon. A follow-up story, which will appear next week, will explore Madsen's media work with local and national crises.

Innovative Isenberg Course Features Two High-Profile Visitors Talking on Crisis Management

March 19, 2014

Now in its second year, Anna Nagurney's innovative course, Humanitarian Logistics and Healthcare, introduces cutting-edge crisis management and planning skills to Isenberg and other UMass Amherst students. ʺMy goal is to give our students the tools and mindset to act decisively and adaptably in human crises like storms and earthquakes, food shortages, financial contagions, and pandemics,ʺ explains Nagurney, who is John F. Smith Memorial Professor of Operations Management.

Isenberg Researcher's Study Points to Negative Outcomes for NHL Teams with Olympic Participants

February 25, 2014

With the Sochi Winter Olympic Games in the rearview mirror, a 2012 statistical study by Professor Neil Longley of Isenberg's Mark H. McCormack Department of Sport Management is prompting observers to ask whether the teams of NHL players who participated in the Games will suffer a letdown during the rest of the NHL season.

Isenberg Professor's Book Advocates Value Approach to Investments

February 10, 2014

For Isenberg strategy professor Anurag Sharma, investing is both a science and an art and, most importantly, a deep discipline. His recently published Book of Value arms the reader with a conceptual framework with which to detect true value in a sea of noise.

Isenberg Center Partners with Wharton Research Data Services on Strategic Database

January 29, 2014

A prestigious Isenberg asset--the Morningstar CISDM Database--will now be offered by the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School's internet-based data research service, Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS). The Isenberg database, managed by the school's Center for International Securities and Derivatives Markets, tracks qualitative and quantitative information for more than 6,000 hedge funds, funds of funds, and commodity trading advisors (CTAs). Morningstar CISDM also includes a database that provides robust information on 13,000 inactive funds.

Isenberg Accounting Professor Leads Pioneering Cross-Cultural Study

December 16, 2013

According to Isenberg accounting professor Elaine Wang, auditors from different nations may unwittingly convey different cultural biases in their professional judgments. With support from the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Audit Quality, Wang and Isenberg Ph.D. candidate Aaron Saiewitz are comparing how American and Chinese auditors account for various types of errors embedded in an auditing case study in different ways. In other words, asks Wang, will different cultural mindsets promote or impede critically important professional skepticism in auditors' judgments?

Isenberg Honors Three Exceptional Staff Members

December 12, 2013

Kudos to Kim Figueroa (Chase Career Center), Debbie Puchalski (Accounting & Marketing), and Carol Szymkowicz (Sport Management and general administration)--this year's recipients of Isenberg's Outstanding Staff Awards. Nominated by their fellow employees and chosen by a faculty-staff committee, the honorees received their awards at Isenberg's annual end-of-the-year faculty-staff gathering (a.k.a. the Reindeer Seminar) on December 9th.

Isenberg Researcher's Infrastructure Models Will Support Future World Cup Tournament

November 22, 2013

Ahmed Ghoniem, an assistant professor of Operations and Information Management at Isenberg, is leading a three-year project that is creating infrastructure and logistics planning models for the 2022 FIFA World Cup (soccer) tournament in Qatar. Funded by the state-run Qatar Foundation, Ghoniem is focusing on Qatar's transportation and lodging systems.

Isenberg Finance Professors Gain New Analytical Lens from Washington Experience

November 12, 2013

Two Isenberg finance professors returned to Isenberg with valuable new insights after recent stints at two federal regulatory agencies in Washington, D.C. Mila Getmansky Sherman spent six months at the Securities & Exchange Commission; Nikunj Kapadia spent much of a year at the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Financial Research.

Isenberg Marketing Course & Its Students Promote Singer-Songwriter

October 13, 2013

As a hands-on course project, our promotional initiatives on behalf of singer-songwriter Clair Reilly-Roe had many positives, notes Bruce Weinberg, who with fellow marketing professor, Easwar Iyer, co-taught the fall-semester introductory course, Fundamentals of Marketing.

Professor Nagurney Honored as INFORMS Fellow

October 01, 2013

Anna Nagurney, John F. Smith Memorial Professor of Operations Management at Isenberg, has been named an INFORMS Fellow by the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS), the leading professional association for advanced analytics professionals.

Isenberg Accounting Researchers Earn Prestigious Research Support

September 06, 2013

Two Isenberg researchers--Elaine Wang, an assistant professor of accounting, and Aaron Saiewitz, a Ph.D. candidate in accounting--have received a prestigious grant for their research project from the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Audit Quality (CAQ).

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