Ross Professors Are Winning Awards Left and Right - Here are Just Five of the Most Recent

Whether it’s in a classroom, on the printed page, or influencing policy, it’s hard to overstate the impact of Ross Faculty have on students and the business world at large.

From the many rankings that place a Michigan Ross education among the best in the world, to the numerous awards won by Professors every year, you don’t have to look too far for proof. This year has been no different, Ross professors have been winning awards left and right for their work in the classroom, for their contributions to research, and for their influence in the business world.

Here, in no particular order, are just five of the most recent awards from the last month:

Shahnaz Broucek - For an Innovative Mentorship Program

​Shahnaz Broucek, MBA ‘11, Lecturer of Business Administration, was recently honored with the Provost Teaching Innovation Prize for her involvement in helping to create the First Year Experience Peer Coaching Program that is an integral part of a new BA 100 Course which was rolled out to first-year Michigan Ross students this past Fall.

The award recognizes faculty who have developed new ways of engaging students in the learning process — and the peer coaching program in BA 100 does just that.

Each large section of 140 first-year students is subdivided so that every group of 6-7 students has a peer coach who is further along in the BBA program and who receives ongoing training in coaching. These paid student coaches facilitate classroom discussions and activities and provide team and individual coaching sessions outside the classroom.

The coaches have a broad mandate to support the overall well-being of the first years, helping them to discover their passions and connect to university resources.

The course represents a shift occurring in business education, led by the Michigan Ross BBA program.

“In an era of rising class for more support for student mental health,” the award announcement reads, “this program expands networks and connections, enhances preparedness and student success, and increases self-awareness, confidence, and the ability to work collaboratively.”

The year-long, one-credit course meets fourteen times over the fall and winter semesters.

Gretchen Spreitzer - For Contributions to the Academy of Management

For her work in the field of Organizational Development and change, Gretchen Spreitzer, Professor of Management and Organizations and the faculty director of the Center for Positive Organizations, will be honored with a divisional 2018 Distinguished Scholar award from the Academy of Management later this summer.

She will receive the award this August in Chicago.

Jane Dutton - For Writing Better Books For A Better World

Co-written by Jane Dutton, Professor Emeritus of Business Administration, the book “Awakening Compassion at Work” recently won a silver medal from the Nautilus Book Awards. The Nautilus awards recognize books that support green values, high-level wellness, social change, or as they put it: “better books for a better world”. Dutton and her co-author Monica Worline won in the Business and Leadership category.

Martin Schmalz - For Being Among the Best 40 Under 40

March Schmalz, assistant professor of business administration and finance, was recognized this spring by Poets&Quants on its annual list of “40 Under 40” outstanding business school professors.

“Students, administrators, and other academics consistently called attention to this professor’s outstanding performance in the classroom coupled with his prowess in academia as a top researcher,” said Poets&Quants in their write up of Schmalz.

His research covers empirical and theoretical topics in industrial organization, corporate finance, behavioral finance, asset pricing, and financial economics. He teaches all levels of students at Ross, from BBA to PhD.

Andy Hoffman, Chris White, and Jerry Davis - For Ideas Worth Teaching

The Aspen Institute — a well-respected education/policy organization — has named two Michigan Ross offerings to its annual list of exceptional business courses.

The Aspen Institute’s Business & Society Program presented its Ideas Worth Teaching Awards recently, honoring two Ross classes and adding them to their list of exceptional business courses.

The courses were:

Social Intrapreneurship: Leading Social Innovation in Organizations, an MBA elective taught by Jerry Davis and Chris White; and Sustainable Business in Iceland, a 2017 Global Practicum course taught by Andrew Hoffman for undergraduate, Master of Management, and Master of Accounting students.

Ross is the only school with more than one class on the list. Read More

Learn more about Michigan Ross Faculty