Six Gies faculty honored with Dean's Impact Awards

Six extraordinary faculty members at Gies College of Business have been recognized as winners of the 2019-20 Dean’s Impact Award. The award recognizes outstanding faculty for their contributions to the College.

“It is my great pleasure to honor these deserving faculty members for their hard work and dedication to business education at Gies,” said Jeffrey R. Brown, Josef and Margot Lakonishok Professor of Business and Dean. “These six faculty members lead by example on a daily basis, and they’re truly making a lifelong impact on the next generation of business leaders.”

Gies College of Business established these awards in 2017 to recognize faculty who demonstrate exceptional commitment to the College and its students through their service, instruction, and research.

2019-20 Dean’s Impact Award winners:

Gary Hecht, associate professor of accountancy and Arthur Andersen Faculty Fellow, continues to make significant contributions to the development of the structure and content of the College’s online programs, iMBA and iMSA. He has also been instrumental in building relationships with professional organizations, domestically and internationally, to expand the reach and impact of our online content.

Myoung Kim, clinical assistant professor of business administration, has taken ownership of and spearheaded a complete revamp of our undergrad marketing research course, and she also played an important role in revamping the marketing tracks. She has worked tirelessly, often with the students on weekends in the computer lab, to assist them with developing rigorous research and data-analysis skills.

Nehemiah Scott, teaching assistant professor of business administration, has demonstrated high capacity and excellence for his work as director of the Supply Chain program. He brings a positive attitude, works incredibly hard, faithfully attends college events, and strengthens the College’s connections with a wide range of stakeholders.

Xiangyi Spencer, teaching assistant professor of finance, has made numerous contributions to the iMBA finance course sequence (Corporate Finance and Investments), while still shouldering her regular load in the finance undergraduate program.  She is an excellent instructor who has cheerfully accepted a variety of courses.

Cindy Steward, lecturer of accountancy, has been instrumental in building our FASB/GASB Post-Graduate Technical Assistant nomination process and getting our MAS students to be key players in the standard-setting arena. This has brought the Department and College a newfound level of recognition with the SEC and FASB.

Scott Weisbenner, professor of finance and William G. Karnes Professor in Mergers & Acquisitions, spearheaded tenure-stream faculty recruiting efforts in the Department of Finance. His leadership helped the College land a strong group of tenure-track finance faculty with excellent accomplishments and outstanding promise.  At the same time, he chaired and co-authored an in-depth document with Christine Gozdziak and Laura Li, which provided exceedingly thoughtful analyses that helped student recruiting strategic efforts.