Favorite Business Professors Of The Class of 2020

Wharton’s Adam Grant

Adam Grant. I took his class on organizational behavior last semester and was amazed at both how engaging he was inside the classroom and how considerate he was outside of it. He encouraged the class to form a collaborative, supportive community that helped us have richer discussions and also form new connections and friendships. His attention to detail, from his quick email responses to his care to pronounce everyone’s names correctly, made us all feel like we could connect with him regardless of his popularity and success.”
Tanusri Balla, Wharton School (University of Pennsylvania)

Cheryl Mitteness, is a great role model! Her class has inspired students to launch their own successful businesses like Eat Your Coffee. She is a professor who really pushes her students to go beyond what they can achieve inside and outside the classroom. It was awesome to travel to Sicily with her to get to know the startup ecosystem there and get her guidance during my time as IDEA CEO. I have enjoyed every piece of life advice, brainstorming session, and the opportunity to work with her over my time at Northeastern and I am grateful to have a mentor for life.”
Abhishek Balakrishnan, Northeastern University (D’Amore-McKim)

Tammy Hiller, Management, because she taught me to see business through not only the lens of profits but also through the lens of people and the planet. I took her introductory management course during my first year at the Freeman College of Management. The models and frameworks that we studied during that semester have become the foundation for the way I view business today. She rarely restricted us to linear thinking, but rather encouraged us to disrupt the traditional “business as usual” model through methods of collaboration and innovation with both internal and external stakeholders. I also learned the importance of reflection, feedback, and redesign from Professor Hiller’s class, which has proved invaluable in all aspects of my life.”
Arianne Evans, Bucknell University (Freeman)

“My favorite professor from my time at Cal is Dana Carney. Her course, Leading People, was one of my favorite classes. Her passion for teaching created a lively and engaging classroom environment for all students. She used relevant, real-life business cases and examples to explain what it means to be a business leader in today’s ever-evolving society. Professor Carney taught me the importance of what it means to lead, to negotiate, and to make calculated decisions moving forward in my career.”
Jordyn Elliott, U.C.-Berkeley (Haas)

“My favorite Carroll School professor is George Wyner, Associate Professor of Information Systems. At the start of each class, Professor Wyner energizes students with hits from his Spotify playlists, draws attention to his tech-themed “t-shirt of the day,” and grounds us with “three deep breaths.” In his Systems Design & Analysis course, Professor Wyner encourages students to take a hands-on approach to design thinking by improving an inefficient process that students encounter on campus. Professor Wyner truly cares for his students and their success which makes him a stand-out professor.”
Amy Ferreira, Boston College (Carroll)

University of Michigan’s Mary Hinesly

Mary Hinesly is my favorite professor because she went above and beyond to ensure the success of her students. Taking her class, it was evident that she cared less about her students’ grades and more about whether they truly understood and internalized her classes. Because of this, students were incentivised to really process the information we learned. She is a caring person who is an excellent professor.”
Liza Hochberg, University of Michigan (Ross)

“My favorite professor was Professor Shu Lin Wee, my Intermediate Macroeconomics professor. She went above and beyond to ensure that her students understood the material and constantly asked for feedback from the class if the pace was too fast or too slow. My mom is also a teacher, and Professor Wee reminded me of her with her willingness to hold extra office hours and loved to meet with any student who wanted to learn more. You could tell she was extremely passionate not only about Macroeconomics but also about ensuring her students were truly learning the topics.”
Makayla Filiere, Carnegie Mellon University (Tepper)

“Since the first day of class freshman year, Professor Ronald Goodstein has been an invaluable mentor to me and every student who walks through his door. His passion for marketing is palpable – he often spends hours analyzing promotional displays at grocery stores and can recall (almost) every ad he’s ever seen. His classes are endlessly interactive; rather than a static textbook, students interact with real-time sales simulations, and not a class goes by without a relevant advertisement or clip pulled from YouTube. Marketing, in Goodstein’s mind, is a living breathing subject, to be studied as it is happening. Our class would frequently have “Fridays”, where any current event related to marketing was fair game, be it the 2016 Election or “Dilly Dilly” Super Bowl ads. Many know him best for his humor, and it’s true he can reduce a classroom to chaotic laughter with one of his many anecdotes. But I know Professor Goodstein best for his devotion to teaching. His calendar (a written, paper-bound book) is filled to the brim with student appointments, students in his class as well as former students looking for advice. Whether you need a resume read or you need a job, Professor Goodstein goes above and beyond in helping students succeed. More than anything, Ronnie Goodstein brings joy to whatever he does and whoever he’s with: a spark every student he’s taught has been truly lucky to witness.”
Carolyn Kirshe, Georgetown University (McDonough)

“I’ve had several great professors during my time at Georgia Tech, but my favorite professor was my marketing professor, Dr. Michael Lowe. He was clearly so passionate about the topic and excited to teach his students that I was excited to go to class every day. He cares a lot about his students and their success. Dr. Lowe is known around Scheller for his slightly unconventional teaching methods, including composing and performing original songs (about marketing, of course). His class was never boring, largely due to his high energy and slight unpredictability. The fun that he brought to the classroom made me learn much more than I expected and become more interested in marketing than I ever was.”
Darby Foster, Georgia Tech (Scheller)

“It would be Parveen Gupta, former Accounting department head and distinguished holder of an endowed professorship, who taught my Managerial Accounting course in the spring of my sophomore year. I choose Professor Gupta, not because my Finance professors weren’t or aren’t great. Instead, it was because of all of the business courses I took, I never spent more time discussing the world’s problems after class than with this professor. That speaks to how much invaluable wisdom he endowed during lecture as it related to developing a fundamental understanding of accounting – but also, as it related to ensuring that as a business student, I had a proficient contextual basis from which to assess or analyze the world’s issues and the firms who contribute to helping solve them. I’m proud to call Professor Parveen Gupta a great friend for life.”
Will Pemberton, Lehigh University

Indiana University’s Anna Deeds

“Though I found my favorite professor outside of the classroom, I am sure her students speak equally highly of her teaching. Anna Deeds, a business communications lecturer whom I met through her voluntary advisor roles in Women in Business and the Kelley Scholars Program, has contributed most to my holistic development as a young woman, an eager learner, and an incoming business professional. The advice she gave when I was a freshman shaped my approach to relationships for the past four years. She introduced me to the concept of Imposter Syndrome, for which young female business students seem to be high-risk. She showed us that real strength is being authentically yourself even when that’s less than perfect.

She also spoke about women effectively supporting women. My greatest takeaway was her advice in how we reach out to one another, “Do not burden her with the empty-sounding offering, ‘Let me know if I can do anything,’ but instead tell her exactly how you can uniquely be there for her: ‘I’ll listen if you want to talk about the grief of your loss over coffee at Soma tomorrow afternoon.” As you can see, this is a preaching that Anna practiced. When family loss was affecting my ability to be an involved organization member or academic pressures were inhibiting my ability to fulfill my duty as a friend, Anna was the first person to whom I turned. Her support of my development personally, academically, and professionally, even remotely while I spent five months in Sydney, shaped me greatly. I know I will continue to utilize her mentorship and friendship as I navigate the next phase of life.”
Alexa Austin, University of Indiana (Kelley)

“I have had wonderful professors during my time at Questrom and BU, but Professor Matthew Reis who taught my SM131 Business, Society, & Ethics class really stands out as my favorite. Professor Reis was able to foster strong class discussions and stimulated students’ interest in the course material. I easily relate to Professor Reis and have benefitted from him sharing his industry experiences. He also helped me understand my skills, strengths, and weaknesses and how this would translate into the workplace. Thank you, Professor Reis, for being my advocate over these past four years!”
Kristin John, Boston University (Questrom)

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