51茶馆

Soon after arriving on campus for her first semester as a Carroll School professor, Lai Wei stepped into what she termed the 鈥淗arry-Potter-style鈥� Gasson Hall for one of the regular Civitas lunches that bring together faculty of different disciplines at Boston College. 鈥淎t the end of the lunch, I actually started a research project with a faculty member outside my department, which becomes my first interdisciplinary, co-authored project,鈥� said Wei, an assistant professor of operations management.

She and other new Carroll School faculty members have been learning as much as they鈥檒l be teaching鈥攁bout the culture of their new school and University. 鈥淚鈥檝e been surprised at the level of engagement. Not just in the classroom, but also in the dining areas and on the quad, the level of activity is truly extraordinary,鈥� said Do Yoon Kim (Information Systems).

鈥淲hat I really like about the Carroll School, and 51茶馆 in general, is that here they seem to find this balance of paying a lot of attention to and emphasizing both research and teaching,鈥� said Larisa Kovalenko (Marketing), noting that other schools tend to focus primarily on one or the other.听

The 11 new faculty members hail from several corners of the globe, and bring with them a lively array of experiences and interests. One of them studies the fashion industry. Another managed a dance company, and now leverages that experience for insights into organizational behavior. Here鈥檚 a look at five of the new professors鈥攕cholars and teachers who model the life of the mind for their students. (See full list of new faculty in sidebar to the right.)

South Korea鈥揵orn, Kim came to the U.S. as a high school student鈥攁nd he has kept his global outlook. His forthcoming paper in the Strategic Management Journal, 鈥淭he Ethnic Migrant Inventor Effect: Codification and Recombination of Knowledge Across Borders,鈥� explores the 鈥渃ross-border transformation of听knowledge鈥� and was co-authored by听another听researcher with international educational experience.听

This paper illustrates how Kovalenko positions her research at the intersection of marketing, finance, and law. The professor鈥攚ho is from Russia and earned her M.B.A. in Turkey鈥攅xplains that she focuses her research especially on the 鈥渇inancial consequences of branding decisions and marketing actions.鈥� In addition, her teaching style 鈥減laces a lot of emphasis on the real-life application of the concepts that I teach.鈥�

Malenko serves on the editorial boards of some prominent academic publications, including the Journal of Finance. In his own research, Malenko says he studies 鈥渢he role of information in the financing of firms, corporate governance, and organizational design, using the tools of microeconomics and game theory to provide a rigorous theoretical analysis of these issues.鈥� Students in Malenko鈥檚 finance classes have plenty of opportunities to enter his world of research. Malenko says, 鈥淓specially in more advanced classes, I try to tie in the concepts I teach to existing evidence on these concepts from academic research, including from my papers.鈥�

This evidence-based teaching style goes both ways. Just as students can draw lessons from Malenko鈥檚 research on financial concepts, he also looks to learn from his students. He says, 鈥淚 like teaching cases because students鈥� questions and remarks often highlight interesting aspects of applied corporate finance problems that may deserve a more in-depth research analysis.鈥�

You can see the creative influences of her past experience in her chosen areas of study, where she 鈥渆xamines how our psychological relationships with the ideas we generate, the people with whom we work, and the organizations of which we are a part influence how we collaborate.鈥� Unlike some who rely exclusively on quantitative analysis for their research, Rouse prefers to use 鈥渜ualitative methods鈥攊nterviews and observations鈥攊n contexts where creative ideas are of primary importance鈥攕tartups, video game design, modern dance, advertising, product design, and public relations.鈥�

In the classroom, Rouse works 鈥渢o establish an environment centered on respectful engagement and where moments of connection within the classroom can lead to experiences of meaning, engagement, and learning both for students and for me.鈥�

In the classroom, Wei鈥檚 class Business Statistics combines her own research areas with a variety of statistical methods. She says the retailing industry has been 鈥渨idely using and [is] still actively experimenting on various statistical methods, especially about learning customer preferences and purchase behavior.鈥� Wei uses her experience with research to provide students with real-world examples, so they can see 鈥渃onnections between the techniques taught in class and the applications in practice.鈥�

Outside of the classroom, Wei also is quick to acknowledge that her research is more than academic. It鈥檚 a little personal, too: One stream of that research relates to fashion and luxury鈥攁nd, she reveals, 鈥淚 am also a fan of fashion, beauty, and the luxury industry in general.鈥�

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