Hello,
I love the feeling of everyone being back on campus, invigorated by a new school year. We have our largest freshman class in years, and more than 700 new graduate students have started classes. Several of our students are taking part in our newest STEM-designated MBA specialization: AI and Business Strategy. We want our students to leave here knowing how to make decisions using AI, what problems it can help solve, and how to come up with the strategy and governance to implement it.
Our students also have more experiential learning opportunities than ever before. Our Office of Experiential Learning is adding new hands-on learning opportunities all the time, expanding the outstanding offerings we’ve had for decades. In the spring, MBA students managing the assets in our 30-year-old Mayer Fund celebrated impressive returns – some of which will help us further our strategic goals.
I’m delighted to be back in the classroom myself this fall – teaching! It’s something I’ve truly missed since becoming dean. I’m teaching in one of our new active learning classrooms. It’s just one of the new spaces we’ve built as we continue to upgrade our facilities for the future of learning.
We also have 14 new outstanding faculty members joining us this academic year. They join a faculty who continues to impress – whose latest accomplishments include being part of a $26 million NSF grant team, Iceland’s highest honor for an individual, and numerous research awards.
We’re gearing up for many more exciting things this fall. I hope your new semester is off to a great start as well!
Best regards,
Prabhudev C. Konana
Dean, Robert H. Smith School of Business
14 New Faculty Join the Smith School
The Smith School has hired 14 new tenure-track and professional faculty members this academic year, including:
Tania Babina joins Smith as an associate professor of finance from Columbia University, where she is an assistant professor. Babina is an expert in artificial intelligence and business analytics. She earned her PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Jordan Richmond is a new assistant professor of finance. His research explores corporate finance and public economics. He earned a PhD from Princeton University.
Daniel McCarthy joins Smith as an associate professor of marketing from Emory University. McCarthy’s research specialty is the application of leading-edge statistical methods to empirical marketing problems. He also actively researches the causal effect of actions and events on customer purchase behavior. He earned his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania.
Manmohan Aseri is a new assistant professor of information systems, previously holding the same title at the University of Pittsburgh. Before that, he was a visiting assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon University. Aseri’s research primarily focuses on AI economics, emphasizing algorithmic bias, fair advertising, AI adoption and pricing. He earned his PhD from the University of Texas at Dallas.
Meet the other new faculty members: READ MORE.
In spring 2024, the Smith School launched an AI specialization for full-time MBAs. It includes a series of courses that cover the foundations of artificial intelligence, governance and systems design. Students learn to critically dissect AI’s capabilities, then use that understanding to explore business applications, ethics and responsible use of the technology. The school launched the Center for Artificial Intelligence in Business in April to be the hub for AI research and outreach. Faculty are translating their AI research findings in the classroom and using the latest AI technology in experiential learning projects with students. READ MORE.
MBA Portfolio Managers Reward Smith School with High Returns
MBA students managing the $8 million asset portfolio in the Smith School’s more than 30-year-old Mayer Fund saw some of the most impressive returns ever in 2024. A team of 10 to 12 MBA and MS students get hands-on investment experience managing the asset portfolio for the school’s foundation, using the S&P 500 as a benchmark. Between April 1, 2023, and March 1, 2024, the fund saw a one-year return of nearly 30% and almost 21% for its overall 2024 fiscal return. In May 2024, the Mayer Fund’s stellar performance and the success of the Smith School’s other student-managed funds—the Senbet and Global Equity funds—allowed the foundation to make a $437,860 grant back to the school. READ MORE.
New Classrooms, Teaching Studio Debut at Smith
Van Munching Hall, home of the Smith School, is in the midst of some major upgrades to support the next generation of learners. New technology-enabled hybrid classrooms are now in use and students are enjoying more collaborative learning spaces. Also new: A state-of-the-art virtual teaching studio is set to debut this fall. READ MORE.
$26M from NSF, Iceland’s Highest Honor and Other Accolades
Smith’s Brent Goldfarb is part of the University of Maryland team awarded $26 million from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) – along with five other schools – to develop better heating and cooling systems. In June, Margrét Bjarnadóttir was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Icelandic Order of the Falcon – her native country’s highest honor – for her pioneering research in pay equity. Debra L. Shapiro won the Academy of Management Learning & Education Decade Paper Award for her 2013 AMLE paper “Scholarly Impact: A Pluralist Conceptualization." P.K. Kannan won the European Marketing Academy Distinguished Scholar Award 2024. And Smith’s Center for Global Business received a 2024 President’s “E” Award for Export Service from the U.S. Department of Commerce. READ MORE.
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About the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business
The Robert H. Smith School of Business is an internationally recognized leader in management education and research. One of 12 colleges and schools at the University of Maryland, College Park, the Smith School offers undergraduate, full-time and flex MBA, executive MBA, online MBA, business master’s, PhD and executive education programs, as well as outreach services to the corporate community. The school offers its degree, custom and certification programs in learning locations in North America and Asia.