Marla Stafford, Chair of the Department of Marketing & Supply Chain Management has been awarded a First Tennessee Professorship, one of the University of Memphis’ leading scholarly awards. The First Tennessee Professorships were established early in 2005 as part of a partnership between the First Tennessee Foundation and the U of M to help the University recruit and retain outstanding faculty and to support economic and financial literacy programs. Marla is just concluding her term as the Editor of the Journal of Advertising, which is a highly respected scholarly journal. She continues to serve on a number of editorial review boards and actively represents the institution at major conferences. She continues to publish even under her current heavy workload as department chair and editor, and has consistently been seen as one of the most inspiring teachers in the College.

 

Professor Emin Babakus, Professor of Marketing in the Department of Marketing and Supply Chain Management, has been announced as a 2011 University of Memphis’ Distinguished Teaching Award recipient. This is outstanding recognition for a gifted instructor, whose student evaluations consistently highlight him as an excellent teacher. Department Chair, Marla Stafford, commented, “His high evaluations are particularly noteworthy given that Dr. Babakus teaches some of the more difficult, quantitative marketing classes that are often feared by the students…. Moreover, despite the challenging nature of these courses, his students complete the classes with considerable enthusiasm and knowledge, along with a new appreciation for marketing research and the value of statistics.” Dr. Babakus joins a long line of winners of the DTA from the FCBE, including Julia Heath in 2010.

 

Charlene Spiceland, instructor in the School of Accountancy, has won a Thomas W. Briggs Foundation Excellence in Teaching Award. This is a highly prestigious award that was established by the Thomas W. Briggs Foundation to recognize outstanding educators for their positive impact on undergraduate teaching.

 

In supporting Charlene’s application, Director of the School of Accountancy Professor Carolyn Callahan stated, “Charlene has a natural gift for teaching based on her innate compassion for her students, her willingness to meet students’ needs and her focus on excellence in class room delivery. On the personal side, she is a very supportive colleague with a great sense of humor, a team player with a strong work ethic. Her optimism and positive attitude is contagious in the School of Accountancy.”

 

As an outstanding teacher, Charlene’s recognition is very well deserved, and, following Irv Tankersley’s success, is the second Briggs award to come to the School of Accountancy in two years.

 

Gensheng (Jason) Liu and George Dietz, assistant professors in the Department of Marketing and Supply Chain Management, have won the Stern & El Ansary Award for Best Supply Chain Management and Logistics Paper at the Society for Marketing Advances (SMA) annual conference, held in Atlanta, GA, in November 2011.

 

Dr. Pankaj K. Jain, Associate Professor of Finance, Insurance and Real Estate has accepted an invitation to serve as an Associate Editor of Financial Review, effective January 2011. Financial Review is the official journal of the Eastern Finance Association, and presents original empirical, theoretical and methodological research providing new insights into all areas of financial economics. Financial Review is rated as an A+ top tier journal in the FCBE Department of Finance, Insurance and Real Estate.

 

Emre Kuvvet, a doctoral student in the department of Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate is received the best paper award in the International Finance category at the 2011 Southern Finance Association meeting for his work “The Impact of Corruption and Government Involvement on Liquidity, Execution Risk, and Foreign Equity Investments” supervised by Professor P.K. Jain. The award represents a major national recognition. His accomplishment was recognized at the SFA annual meeting dinner in Asheville, North Carolina in November 2011. He received a plaque and $1,000 cash award. The award was sponsored by the Southern Finance Association which also publishes the Journal of Financial Research. More than 315 finance academics submitted papers. Among those, only 207 papers were accepted for conference presentation from which the best papers were selected for the six main areas in finance.