STUDENTS HONOR FIRST-YEAR FACULTY MEMBER FOR TEACHING EXCELLENCE ONE OF THE MOST sought-after young finance faculty recruits in 1996 also turned out to be the best teacher. In his first year of teaching, Ming Huang so inspired his students that they honored him with the 1997 Emory Williams Award for Excellence in Teaching. The award has never before gone to a rookie faculty member. Ming, one of the hottest prospects on the finance faculty market last year, turned down offers from 12 other schools to join the GSB. Chicago’s attraction was the critical mass of accomplished finance researchers assembled here. The humble Ming was quick to share credit for his award with his colleagues. The brand-new an assistant professor of finance, taught six sections of Financial Instruments, a derivative-pricing course, in 1996­97. He says he combines questions with lectures to move students to a deeper level of knowledge. “It’s easy to listen to someone, nod, and feel that you understand the topic. It’s more difficult when you have to apply the concept and repeat back the information, ” he explains. “I prepare a lot of questions because I try to bounce back and forth between those levels to stimulate them.” He tries to boil down the complex concepts of the material into simple, intuitive terms, and the nods of understanding when students catch on are both his reward and his motivation. “That kind of positive feedback gives me a lot of energy. It’s a selfish thing for me to make them understand, because I really get pumped up when I feel they are following along.”
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