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Faculty News
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Nominated as a “tough love” professor by colleagues and students for a profile in Richmond Alumni Magazine, Earl is described by student Michael Barlettano Jr., ’04, as “aggressive, cutthroat and intense, yet understanding, humorous and responsive—all at the same time.”
He teaches Portfolio Management – a senior elective course – and the level one preparatory class for the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) track. It is a three-year exam sequence with the first exam taken three weeks after graduation. CFA is the standard designation for Wall Street analysts, Earl explains. |
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Earl has supervised the Student Managed Investment Fund (SMIF) managers since the fund’s inception. When asked what he has gained from this experience, he retorts, “Laughs. They make their own decisions – and sometimes they are pretty silly. They come up with some good calls and bad calls, but that’s how they learn.”
SMIF or the “SpiderFund,” began in 1993 with $200,000 from the University’s endowment. It has its own operating budget, augmented by the Business School Alumni Association.
The fund has seen its share of ups and downs. He relays a hard lesson learned in the dot.com era in spring 2000. “The Growth Fund was heavily into tech stocks and had an interesting theory – the ‘tech gorilla theory.’ They bought the large cap tech stocks that they thought were bulletproof such as EMC, Oracle, JDS Uniphase, and Cisco and ended up losing more than half of the portfolio balance that semester. However, those were some of my brightest students who are doing the best on Wall Street,” he adds.
“Last year’s students spent the year discussing buying Google stock. They finally decided to buy 15 minutes before closing on earnings announcement day – only to watch it get clobbered,” Earl describes.
Despite some tough times, students have managed the fund very well throughout the years, often exceeding expectations. The real reward, Earl notes, “isn’t in winning or losing – it’s in the incredible hands-on learning experience and lessons these students learn so early in their careers.”
SMIF members work in groups of four or five to manage a fund. Four out of the five managers have to agree before they buy or sell. Fund managers also have to defend their investment choices twice a year to an advisory board – a group of 20 to 25 business practitioners from the community. At the end of the year they create an annual report.
A native of Winthrop, Mass., Earl and his wife Debbie have been married for 26 years and have two sons – John, a sophomore at Lynchburg College and David, a senior at Midlothian high school.
When not cracking down on his students, Earl is an education consultant and speaker for the Certified Risk Managers and Certified Insurance Counselors associations based in Austin, Texas. He travels to various locations to speak to affiliate groups.
While his reputation precedes him, Earl has a big following of former finance students in major NY investment firms. Over 100 Robins School alumni work in NY at firms such as Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Lehman Brothers and Cowen. It must be that the tough love is working. |
Dr. KimMarie McGoldrick, Associate Professor of Economics, is a recipient of the 2006 Distinguished Educator Award. She is one of six University professors chosen for the award this year. Provost June Aprille presented the award to the faculty members during Colloquy earlier this fall.
The Distinguished Educator Award recognizes full-time faculty at the University of Richmond for a consistent record of outstanding contributions to excellence in education. The primary criterion for the award is leadership in teaching and learning.
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McGoldrick has taught Principles of Micro and Macroeconomics, Labor Economics, Industrial Organization and Public Policy, Women & Gender Issues in Economics, and the Capstone Experience in Economics. Her research areas of interest include economics education and labor market information.
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As part of BusinessWeek’s ranking of undergraduate business programs, students at each university were asked to name their favorite professor. Votes poured in for Joe Ben Hoyle, Associate Professor of Accounting, winning him a spot on the national “My Favorite Prof” list. Only 22 professors across the country were selected. Students praise his unique approach to teaching, rigorous curriculum, availability, and genuine interest in their education. The complete article can be found by visiting this website.
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Dr. Jonathan Wight Wins Templeton Foundation's 2006 "In Character" Prize for Op-Ed Writing back to top
Dr. Jonathan B. Wight, associate professor of economics and international studies, and Dr. Douglas A. Hicks, associate professor of leadership studies and religion and director of the Center for Civic Engagement, have won the inaugural In Character Prize, saluting the editorial treatment of human virtue and its importance in the life of American society. The $10,000 prize was awarded at a dinner at the Library of Congress Oct. 17.
Wight and Hicks were recognized for “Disaster Relief: What Would Adam Smith Do?” originally published in the Jan. 18, 2005 Christian Science Monitor. The full article can be read at http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0118/p09s02-coop.html.
“The submissions to the prize demonstrate a broad and universal concern for the role of good character, and how it provides the foundation for habits, practices and ways of living that foster human happiness and fulfillment,” said Kimon Sargeant, vice president of human sciences of the John Templeton Foundation, publisher of In Character magazine. “Douglas and Jonathan’s essay reminds us that compassion for those who are suffering—and action in response to that feeling—is something we can all applaud.”
The prize recognizes work published during 2005 in the United States. On the basis of character, style of presentation and innovativeness, the judges evaluated 195 entries from newspapers published in 25 states, including submissions from the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Arkansas Times, Philadelphia Daily News and USA Today. The winning essays are available on the In CharacterWeb site, http://www.incharacter.org/prize.php.
The John Templeton Foundation was established in 1987 by international investment manager Sir John Templeton. In the area of the human sciences, the foundation supports programs, competitions, publications and research studies that explore a range of virtues and positive human strengths, such as generosity, altruistic love, forgiveness and gratitude. The foundation also supports research and education on the benefits of entrepreneurship and the enhancement of individual freedom and free markets.
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Dr. Dean D. Croushore, The Rigsby Fellow in Economics and Associate Professor of Economics, was interviewed by National Public Radio’s Marketplace radio show, to share his expertise on personal saving rates. Croushore teaches Money and Banking, Intermediate Macroeconomics, and Advanced Macroeconomics. His research interests include real-time data analysis, forecasting, and monetary theory and policy.
Dr. Marshall A. Geiger, The Joseph A. Jennings Chair in Business and Professor of Accounting, presented “Audit Fees, Non-audit Fees, and Auditor Reporting on Stressed Companies: Evidence from the UK” at the European Accounting Association’s Annual Congress in Dublin, Ireland. Dr Geiger teaches Financial Reporting and Accounting Theory & Policy. His research focuses on auditor reporting, earnings management, and business ethics.
Dr. Robert A. Phillips, Visiting Associate Professor of Management, was recently elected to the 5-member Board of Directors of the Society for Business Ethics. Phillips teaches Business Ethics at the Robins School and his areas of research are organizational ethics and stakeholder theory.
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