My UIS Progress
Teaching Experience: I joined UIS in January 2021. During my time at UIS, I taught 12 different courses in 30 sections, supporting our new master program (Master of Science in Finance, MSF) and existing programs (MBA General, MBA in Applied Finance, BBA in Finance, and Economics). I stepped up whenever I was asked and did my absolute best so that we offered the courses that our students needed to complete their studies and to graduate on time. I went through my 4th year performance review during the 2022-2023 academic year with teaching evaluations in major categories above the department, college, and university averages. For our MSF program, I developed FIN 502, FIN 513, FIN 515, and FIN 556 myself and co-developed FIN 505 with late Dr. Feng-Shun “Leo” Bin and FIN 518 with my other finance colleagues (in total, half of the courses in the program). I owe an immense gratitude to my colleague Dr. Bin who was the architect behind our MSF program but did not get to see the first cohort of students graduating from the program due to his untimely death. I, along with my other finance colleagues, see it as a duty to make this program the success that Dr. Bin envisioned.
Scholarship: Since I was hired at UIS in 2021, I have had 6 manuscripts accepted at peer-reviewed journals (all in the ABDC list), increasing my total research output to 15 journal publications over my career. During my time at UIS, I also had the opportunity to deliver 10 presentations at academic conferences. My current level of scholarship puts me in Excellent category under my department’s revised tenure guidelines.
Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation: To better mentor my students and to bring our curriculum to the industry standards, I completed the CFA program. I took the last (third) CFA Exam in November 2021 (each exam requires around 300 hours of studying), and I passed it. I was awarded my CFA charter in 2022, which represented a significant professional development milestone for me. I am now a member of the CFA Institute and the CFA Society Chicago. I frequently mentor our graduate and undergraduate students about the CFA program.
Affiliation with the CFA Institute: I worked with my colleagues to affiliate our BBA Finance program with the CFA Institute. We have been affiliated with the CFA Institute since 2022. This affiliation not only helps us market our programs but also provides with scholarships for our students who want to take the CFA exams. I serve as the Principal Contact with the CFA Institute.
Student Managed Investment Fund (SMIF): I worked with my colleagues (finance faculty) to develop the bylaws for and set up SMIF. I also incorporated SMIF into multiple graduate courses, giving our students the opportunity to have hands-on experience in valuing stocks, writing equity research reports, and managing portfolios. In the Fall 2023 semester, I incorporated the SMIF into a undergraduate finance course (FIN 440: Financial Modeling & Valuation). I serve as a faculty advisor to SMIF.
High School Stock Trading Competition: This year, my colleague Dr. Schlosky and I, with support from the CBM administration, launched and ran the inaugural UIS High School Stock Trading Competition. We partnered with Rochester High School and recruited students in the 9th through 12th grades on a voluntary basis into a stock trading competition. We had more than 80 students in the competition, and the three students with the best portfolio performance won the following actual cash prizes (funded by CBM): $1,000 for the 1st place, $500 for the 2nd place, and $250 for the 3rd place. We wrote a proposal to request funds from the Strategic Investment Funds to continue this competition in the future, and we were awarded $5,000 a year for two years. Our goal now is to include multiple high schools in the competition and work with the Office of Advancement to raise further funds for the competition.
Faculty Engagement Award: I created experiential learning opportunities and connections for my students by working with community collaborators from Northwestern Mutual, INB, Sikich LLC, Teachers Retirement System of Illinois (TRS), the CFA Society Chicago, and the CFA Institute. I also invited eight guest speakers to my classes (from local and non-local businesses) to share their perspectives on applications of the course materials and careers in finance. I was recognized for my efforts this year (2023) with the UIS Faculty Engagement Award.
CFA Institute Research Challenge: I sponsored two teams to the CFA Institute Research Challenge (one of the most prestigious global competitions in finance) during the 2022-2023 academic year. I paired our students with local industry partners from Teachers Retirement System of Illinois and Sikich Financial as part of this competition.
Community Bank Case Study Competition: I worked with the Office of Engaged Learning and INB to sponsor students to the Community Bank Case Study Competition. We sponsored two teams to the competition in 2023, and one of the teams made it to the second round. Overall, the students not only had an amazing experiential learning opportunity but also earned internship credits along the way.
Northwestern Mutual Competition: Last year, I worked with the local branch of Northwestern Mutual and launched a competition for my ECO 201 students. Students wrote commodity pitch reports that were evaluated by the Executive Vice President Chairman of Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company (NMIMC). This opportunity allowed my students to be introduced to the practice of trading and writing research reports early in their program and to receive feedback from an industry professional.
Data Platforms: I incorporated Telemet and Capital IQ into graduate and undergraduate finance courses. These platforms enabled our students to work with high-quality data in their experiential learning projects.
Provost Certificate of Completion and Professional Development: I attended over 30 professional development opportunities (sponsored by UIS and other institutions) and earned Provost Certificate of Completion from UIS.