Sidney Davidson Says Farewell to Chicago Kudos for Kaplan Klenow Makes the Grade Prouty Markets Chicago in Asia Professorship Honors Campbell Soup Chairman GSB Joins President Search Top Talent Join Chicago Moving Up   Sidney Davidson Says Farewell to Chicago Alumni, faculty, and friends gathered at Gleacher Center in June to honor Sidney Davidson, who retired after 41 years at Chicago. As the first chaired professor of accounting at a major university, Davidson’s contributions went beyond the Graduate School of Business and helped define an entire field. “Sidney not only is brilliant and wonderful but also created this empirical revolution in accounting,” former GSB professor George Sorter said at the dinner. Davidson was among the first advocates of focusing on the value of information, ideas, and other assets that do not appear on a balance sheet. As a result of his work, companies now include these factors when presenting their accounts. As the author or editor of countless articles and 15 books, including a classic text on accounting coauthored with Roman Weil, V. Duane Rath Professor of Accounting, Davidson has left an indelible mark on the scholarship in his field. “Sidney’s book remains the best single way to get an overview of what the venerable field of accounting is really all about,” said Merton Miller, Robert R. McCormick Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of Finance. Davidson taught at all levels during his four decades at Chicago, and former students and fellow faculty members recalled Davidson’s classroom manner as filled with humor and common sense. “For me, the chance to teach with Sidney was the chance to learn how to teach from a true master,” said Dean Robert S. Hamada, who cotaught a course with Davidson. Davidson also was dean between 1969 and 1974, becoming one of the first accounting professors to serve as a dean of a major business school. During his tenure, Chicago acquired and installed its first computer and began to incorporate computer use into the curriculum, and the school improved and expanded its facilities. He also spearheaded a campaign to add more endowed professorships as a means of attracting leading scholars, successfully negotiating the establishment of three such professorships during his five years as dean and creating a momentum that has led to a total of 37 endowed professorships today. Davidson’s service to his field has reached beyond Chicago and has included leadership roles in the American Accounting Association, of which he is a past president; the Financial Accounting Foundation; and the American Institute of CPAs, of which he is a past vice president. He was the first academic to be elected an officer of that practicing accountant association. Numerous business firms and government agencies have consulted with him, including the U.S. Treasury Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission. He was elected to the Accounting Hall of Fame in 1983. In 1989 Davidson became the Ernst & Young Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of Accounting, but he has hardly been absent from the life of the school. He has taught a course every autumn in addition to continued scholarship and fundraising activities. Most notable among his fundraising efforts was his challenge to former faculty members in conjunction with the Gleacher Challenge. He promised to match any gift by former or relocated faculty up to a total contribution of $50,000. In addition, he made an unrestricted gift of $500,000 to help meet the Gleacher Challenge. Such support for the school has characterized Davidson’s career at Chicago. As he told those gathered at his retirement dinner, “I leave this group with a feeling of genuine affection for all those with whom I’ve worked and for the university.” The feeling is clearly mutual. George Sorter affectionately teased Davidson while recognizing his talents amid laughter and applause. “I hate him. I hate Sidney. I really hate him. Why? He’s funnier than I am. He does better research than I do. And he’s a better teacher than I am. So I think we should all acknowledge and drink a toast to Sidney Davidson.” –K.K. Return to top of page Kudos for Kaplan GSB professor Steven N. Kaplan has played a vital role in Chicago’s growing involvement in entrepreneurship, recruiting staff, organizing fellowships, and devising curricula. Now he has been honored with two awards for his efforts: the newly created Arthur L. Kelly Faculty Prize, awarded by the GSB, and the Class of ’99 Phoenix Award, given by graduating students. The Kelly Prize is presented biennially to a member of the faculty who demonstrates exceptional service to the GSB beyond teaching and research. The annual Phoenix Award is given to the faculty member who has enriched the student learning experience through voluntary and active involvement in the extracurricular and community activities of the graduating class. Kaplan joined the faculty in 1988 after earning his Ph.D. from Harvard. He was recently named the Neubauer Family Professor of Entrepreneurship and Finance.–C.N. Return to top of page Klenow Makes the Grade For Pete Klenow, teaching is about sharing his passion for economics. “I love macroeconomics,” said Klenow, associate professor of economics. “I love teaching it to bright, hard-working, and motivated people. Granted, students don’t love it like I do, but they are enthusiastic about understanding the macro events going on in the world.” Students must be enthusiastic about what they learn in Klenow’s business 303 class–and about Klenow himself–because they elected him to receive the 1999 Emory Williams Award for Excellence in Teaching. The winner is selected by first- and second-year students in the evening, weekend, and campus programs. Klenow, who joined the faculty in 1991 after receiving a Ph.D. in economics from Stanford, said his primary research interest is understanding economic growth. “I am trying to understand the roles played by education, by technology transfer from the richest countries, and by government policies thwarting or promoting growth,” he said. “And for the United States, I am trying to find out how much official statistics may be understating our growth rate by not fully taking into account how the quality of goods and services, like medical care, improve over time.” A sports fan who enjoys tennis and basketball when he’s not in the classroom, Klenow said the teaching award ranked up there with a favorite honor he received years earlier: election as captain of his high school basketball team. “While that was a very prestigious and gratifying honor,” he said, “I would have to rank this teaching award as even better than that.”– M.M.B. Return to top of page Prouty Markets Chicago in Asia Chicago continues to build a name and a presence in Asia, thanks in part to JoEllyn Prouty, ’94, who joined the GSB in May as director of marketing for the International Executive M.B.A. Program in Singapore. Based in Singapore, Prouty is responsible for all aspects of marketing the new program, from setting overall strategy to conducting recruiting sessions. This summer she accompanied Dean Robert S. Hamada on a three-week trip through Asia. Prouty comes to Chicago from Internet start-up CitySearch, where she was director of international partnerships. She previously worked on international projects with Deloitte & Touche’s consulting group. –M.M.B. Return to top of page Professorship Honors Campbell Soup Chairman When David W. Johnson, ’58, retired as chairman of Campbell Soup Company in July, his colleagues and family found a fitting way to recognize an outstanding career: they honored him with a Graduate School of Business professorship in his name. “Several of us thought that David deserved recognition for what he did at Campbell,” said Basil Anderson, ’71, executive vice president and chief financial officer at Campbell Soup. Anderson considered Johnson’s love of the university and led the effort to raise the $1.5 million then necessary for a named professorship. Johnson joined Campbell in 1990 as CEO, president, and director. He refocused the sagging company, created performance standards, consolidated several sectors of the company, and turned Campbell around. Before his success at Campbell, Johnson engineered a turnaround at Gerber Products, where he served as president, chairman, and CEO from 1987 to 1990. Those who know Johnson say his success is no accident. “David doesn’t shoot from the hip but is grounded in fact-based decision making,” Anderson said. “Results are what matters, and he always has the facts to make decisions.” Former dean John P. Gould summed it up well when he presented Johnson with the school’s Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1992: “[Johnson’s] extraordinary vision and leadership demonstrates how one individual can make a dramatic difference in business performance.”–M.M.B Return to top of page GSB Joins President Search President Hugo Sonnenschein announced in the spring that he will step down after the 1999­2000 academic year and return to teaching, and GSB alumni and faculty will have a say in the selection of the university’s next president. Robert Topel, Isidore Brown and Gladys J. Brown Professor of Urban and Labor Economics, was elected to the seven-member faculty advisory committee that will work with a board of trustees committee in reviewing nominations. The nine trustees respon-sible for the search include Eric Gleacher, ’67, and Steven Rothmeier, ’72. Gleacher is chairman of Gleacher & Co. in New York City and Rothmeier is chairman and CEO of Great Northern Capital in St. Paul. Nominations for president are sought from the university community. Send letters of nomination to board of trustees chairman Edgar Jannotta, c/o Secretary of the Board of Trustees, The University of Chicago, 5801 South Ellis Avenue, Room 501, Chicago, Illinois 60637. –K.K. Return to top of page Top Talent Join Chicago Eleven new faculty members joined Chicago this fall. In keeping with the increasingly global face of the Graduate School of Business, the new faculty members come to Chicago from a variety of backgrounds. Several have received degrees from universities abroad and one served as a U.S. foreign service officer for six years before pursuing his Ph.D. “This incoming class of faculty reflects our continuing trend toward drawing scholars from all over the world,” said John Huizinga, deputy dean for the faculty. Most important, Huizinga said, they represent some of the best talent in their respective fields. “The number of offers accepted in relation to the number of offers made was at an all-time high this past year,” he said. “We were very successful in our recruitment, and we’re very pleased with the new faculty.” The newest members of Chicago’s faculty: Accounting Steven J. Monahan, assistant professor of accounting Education: Ph.D. (1999), Kenan-Flagler Business School, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; master of accounting (1993), University of Iowa; B.A. (1991), University of Northern Iowa Accolades include: Elijah Watt Sells Award, Bronze Medal (placed third in nation on the May 1993 uniform CPA exam) Experience includes: Compensation and benefits consultant, Arthur Andersen & Co. Interests: (Research) the role of accounting numbers in the equity valuation process; (teaching) financial accounting and financial statement analysis Mary Margaret Myers, assistant professor of accounting Education: Ph.D. (1999), master of accounting (1992), B.S. (1991), Kenan-Flagler Business School, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Accolades include: American Accounting Association Doctoral Consortium Fellow Experience includes: Senior tax consultant, Arthur Andersen & Co. Interests: (Research) the impact of taxes and regulation on the strategy of corporate management, investors, and entrepreneurs; (teaching) taxation and financial accounting Joseph D. Piotroski, assistant professor of accounting Education: Ph.D. (1999), University of Michigan; M.B.A. (1994), Indiana University; B.S. (1989), University of Illinois Accolades include: Teaching Excellence Award (1994), Indiana University School of Business Experience includes: Tax senior association, Coopers & Lybrand Interests: (Research) financial reporting and valuation issues; (teaching) financial accounting and financial statement analysis Daniel Bens, instructor of accounting Education: Ph.D. (1999), Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania; M.B.A. (1995), Indiana University; B.S. (1990), Pennsylvania State University Accolades include: Teaching Excellence Award (1994), Indiana University Experience includes: Senior financial analyst, Westinghouse Electric Interests: Voluntary disclosure, earnings management, and security analyst behavior Econometrics and Statistics Federico Bandi, instructor of econometrics and statistics Education: Ph.D. (1999), M.Phil. (1998), M.A. (1996), Yale University; M.A. (1995), B.A. equivalent (1994), Bocconi University, Milan, Italy Accolades include: Alfred P. Sloan Dissertation Fellowship Experience includes: Assisted research on the Italian budget procedures for Innocenzo Gasparini Institute for Economic Research Interests: (Research) econometrics of continuous-time finance, (teaching) finance and econometrics Economics Mark Aguiar, assistant professor of economics Education: Ph.D. (1999), Massachusetts Institute of Technology; B.A. (1988), Brown University Accolades include: Alfred P. Sloan Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship Experience includes: Foreign service officer, U.S. State Department (1989­95) Interests: International economics, macroeconomics, and finance Erik Hurst, assistant professor of economics Education: Ph.D. (1998), M.A. (1995), University of Michigan; B.S. (1993), Clarkson University Accolades include: Citation for Excellence in Teaching (1993­96), Department of Economics, University of Michigan Experience: Lecturer, University of Michigan, Department of Economics Interests: Macroeconomics, public finance, real estate economics, applied economics, and regional economics Econometrics and Strategy Thomas Hubbard, assistant professor of economics and strategy Education: Ph.D (1996), Stanford University; B.A. (1989), Princeton University Accolades include: UCLA Department of Economics Distinguished Teaching Award (1997, 1996) Experience includes: Assistant professor of economics, University of California, Los Angeles. Interests: Industrial organization, applied econometrics, and economics of technology Finance Lubos Pastor, assistant professor of finance Education: Ph.D. (1999), M.A. (1997), Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania; M.B.A. (1997), B.A. (1995), Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia; B.B.A. (1995), Wichita State University, Kansas Accolades include: Pan-American Games in chess, second place (1996) Experience includes: Reporter, Trend, Slovak economy and business weekly Interests: Asset pricing, financial econometrics, and investment management Ulf Axelson, instructor of finance Education: Ph.D. (1999), M.S. (1996), Graduate School of Industrial Administration, Carnegie Mellon University; M.B.A. (1993), Stockholm School of Economics Accolades include: William Larimer Mellon Doctoral Fellowship (1994­96) Experience includes: Recitation leader/teaching assistant, GSIA, Carnegie Mellon University, and Stockholm School of Economics Interests: (Research) financial innovation and security design, corporate finance, auction theory, financial intermediation, microstructure, and econometrics; (teaching) corporate finance, options, microstructure, and asset pricing Production Management Sergio Chayet, instructor of production management Education: Ph.D. (1999), M.S. (1994), Northwestern University; M.S. (1992), University of Chicago; B.S. (1988), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México Accolades include: American Statistical Association Graduate Student Data Analysis Competition, first place (1993) Experience includes: External consultant, ZS Associates; lecturer, Nuevo Colegio Israelita de México Interests: Risk-sensitive and competitive capacity planning Return to top of page Moving Up Several faculty members were promoted to new positions this fall. The individuals and their new titles are listed below. Pradeep Chintagunta, Robert Law Professor of Marketing Steve Kaplan, Neubauer Family Professor of Entrepreneurship and Finance Abbie Smith, Boris and Irene Stern Professor of Accounting Ruey Tsay, H. G. B. Alexander Professor of Econometrics and Statistics Mark Zmijewski, Leon Carroll Marshall Professor of Accounting Judith Chevalier, Professor of Economics Sanjay Dhar, Professor of Marketing Randall Kroszner, Professor of Economics Luigi Zingales, Professor of Finance Austan Goolsbee, Associate Professor of Economics Michael Jenner, Clinical Associate Professor of Management France Leclerc, Associate Professor of Marketing and Behavioral Science Brigitte Madrian, Associate Professor of Economics Surendra Rajiv, Associate Professor of Marketing Toby Stuart, Associate Professor of Organizations and Strategy Return to top of page
				Email GSB Chicago - GSB Chicago Front Page - GSB Home