May 2019 Newsletter

EVENTS

Isenberg Doctoral Program 50th Anniversary 

The Isenberg Doctoral Program’s 50th Anniversary Celebration brought together over 250 alumni, faculty, current students, and their families who have spread themselves all over the globe. Theprogram featured two keynote speakers, Dennis Hanno ’90 and Tina Wakolbinger ’07. The celebration was a full-day event on Friday, April 5th, 2019, and was the first event held in the new wing of the Isenberg building, the Business Innovation Hub.  Photos and more coverage of the event can be viewed here.

Doctoral Commencement

15 doctoral graduates participated in the 2019 Robing Ceremony on May 9th.  The UMass Doctoral regalia was presented to the graduates by their advisors. This marks the fourth annual Isenberg Robing Ceremony where Isenberg PhD Program gifts the robes.

AWARDS

The American Accounting Association (AAA) just held its Audit conference, and Isenberg cleaned house in the plenary presentation of awards!  Yoon Ju Kang was awarded the Best Paper Award for her paper “Revealing Oz: Audit Firm Partners’ Experiences with National Office Consultations”, with Sanaz Aghazadeh, Mary Kate Dodgson (Isenberg PhD ’17) and Marietta Peytcheva.  Chris Agoglia was awarded the Notable Contribution to the Auditing Literature Award for his 2011 article “Principles-based versus Rules-based Accounting Standards: The Influence of Standard Precision and Audit Committee Strength on Financial Reporting Decisions”, published in The Accounting Review with Timoth Doupnik and George Tsakumis.

Doctoral students, Deniz Besik and Matthew Lyle were both recognized with Isenberg's Outstanding PhD Student Awards. Deniz for her research in Management Science, and Matt for his teaching in Organization Studies.

PUBLICATIONS/FEATURES/PRESENTATION

Deniz Besik had a paper published in the European Journal of Operational Research (an A level, highly cited journal) in the May issue and Mojtaba Salarpour had his first paper as a PhD student accepted in the International Journal of Production Economics. This paper is an expansion of his core exam paper. Title and authors: An Integrated Financial and Logistical Game Theory Model for Humanitarian Organizations with Purchasing Costs, Multiple Freight Service Providers, and Budget, Capacity, and Demand Constraints, Anna Nagurney, Mojtabaa Salarpour, and Patrizia Daniele.

In the February issue of the INFORMS magazine, ORMS Today, which goes out to 11,000+ of our professional society members there is an article co-authored by our very own Pritha Dutta on the academic job search.

Anna Nagurney, PhD area coordinator in Management Science is featured as female pioneer in The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences online magazine.

The Chancellor’s Office appointed Associate Dean Nefertiti Walker to represent UMass Amherst, and join President Meehan in Florida for the 2019 Faculty Speaker Series. On March 12 – 14, she gave two separate talks on her most recent research examining networks, gender, and inclusive organizations.

Sport Management doctoral student, Lauren Hindman won a NASSM Doctoral Research Grant for a study titled, Uncovering the Gendered Sport Workplace: A Field Study in Men’s Professional Sports.  Aaron Mansfield, also a Sport Management doctoral student, was named a finalist for the NASSM Student Research Competition for a paper titled, “Maintainers and Modifiers: How Parenthood Impacts Sport Fandom”. He’ll present his paper at the NASSM Conference in June.

RECENT JOB PLACEMENTS

Begum Oz – Assistant Professor at Southern Connecticut State University

Fei Fang – Assistant Professor at Clark University

Nicole MacKenzie - Assistant Professor of Accounting at Georgia Tech

Pritha Dutta - Assistant Professor at Pace University in NYC

Apollo Demirel – Assistant Professor Domincan University of California

Erim Egene – Assistant Professor at Bryant Univeristy

Ovidiu Cocieru – University of Scranton

Kaeun Kim - University of Scranton

Reza Rajabi – Northern Illinois University

RECENT DISSERTATION DEFENSES

Apollo Demirel, Sport Management – “Using Brand Concept Mapping and Network Analysis to Study Brands” Co-Chairs: George Milne & Janet Fink

Begum Oz, Marketing, “The Awesomeness of Awe: The Effects of Awe on Consumers’ Negative Consumption Experiences” Chair: Elizabeth Miller

Erim Ergene, Strategic Management - “Investigating the Challenges of Capability Development:An Integrative Review and Exploration of Strategic Initiatives” Chair: Steven Floyd

Ovidiu Cocieru, Sport Management - An Analysis of Psychological Ownership and Dynamic Social Networks in a Classroom-As-Organization” Chair: Mark McDonald

Fei Fang, Finance - “Three Essays on Empirical Asset Pricing” Chair: Nikunj Kapadia

Nicole MacKenzie, Accounting - “The Power of Psychological Ownership: How Managers’ “Sense of Possession” and Auditor’s Conversation Starters Influence Managers’ Response to Audit Inquiry” Chair: Chris Agoglia

Kaeun Kim, Marketing - “Embodied Location Effects: Affecting Consumer Product Attributions Through Location-Concept Associations” Chair: Elizabeth Miller

Reza Rajabi, Marketing - “Essays on Marketing in New Ventures” Chair: Thomas Brashear

Pritha Dutta, Management Science - “Blood Supply Chain Networks in Healthcare: Game Theory Models and Numerical Case Studies” Chair: Anna Nagurney

RECENT DISSERTATION PROPOSALS

Erfan Rezvani, Hospitality & Tourism Management - “Three Essays on Firm Behaviors in Online Market Platforms”

Kyle Stubbs, Accounting -“Written Feedback in Subjective Performance Evaluations: Does Quantifying a Performance Evaluation Change the Written Feedback?”

Jeffrey MacCharles, Sport Management - “Covering All Their Bases: An Investigation Into Identity Covering in the Sport Workplace”