BusinessWeek Names Erich Studer-Ellis One of Nation's Favorite Business School Professors

Erich Studer-Ellis, Tyser Teaching Fellow of management science and statistics at the Robert H. Smith School of Business, has been named byBusinessWeek as one of the nation's favorite undergraduate business school professors. Studer-Ellis is one of 22 U.S. faculty members undergraduate students mentioned most frequently when surveyed by BusinessWeek in 2006.

"I was unbelievably impressed," says recent grad and teaching assistant Erin Olshever of Studer-Ellis in the BusinessWeek story. "In a class of 250 students, he could call on anyone by name."

"They're fantastic. Working with students, I believe, is the greatest job I could have," says Studer-Ellis in the article. As just about any undergraduate will tell you, few things can be more dehumanizing than 8 a.m. statistics lectures but not if Studer-Ellis is your teacher. He has always been drawn to quantitative courses and radiates a contagious level of enthusiasm, even in the early morning sessions. "I like to let students know that I want to be there and that I enjoy what I'm doing," he says. "If I don't want to be there, why should students want to be there?"

"Erich Studer-Ellis has accomplished the impressive feat of making our gateway business statistics course into one of the best large classes on campus," said Arjang Assad, senior associate dean at the Smith School. "In addition to his own continuous efforts to improve the course, a cadre of teaching assistants have learned how to teach from Erich. He has won the school's Krowe Teaching Award and several campus-wide teaching awards. Most important, year after year, Erich has been recognized directly by his students. We are very fortunate to have him as a teacher at the school."

Studer-Ellis' primary responsibility is teaching the basic undergraduate business statistics course. He has taught a variety of business and statistics courses in a wide range of college and university settings, including Indiana University, the University of Arkansas and Duke University. He has a PhD in sociology from Duke University, and an MBA and BS from Indiana University, Bloomington. His primary research interests include applied statistics and organization theory. He is particularly interested in organizational change and faculty member mobility in higher education.