Students Honor Outstanding Teachers

August, 2003

"HIS LECTURES WERE like command performances," said one MBA student nominator of Yossi Feinberg, associate professor of economics, who was honored with the 2003 Distinguished Teaching Award at a ceremony in May. In addition, doctoral students honored Darrell Duffie with the PhD Distinguished Service Award for his teaching, advice, and support of students and the academic process. The Sloan Excellence in Teaching Award went to Ron Kasznik for the second time in three years.

"The quality of teaching here is amazing," remarked a humble Feinberg when he accepted the MBA award. "I still think there's a mistake," he joked.

There was no mistaking the praise for Feinberg, as cited by first-year MBA student John Abbamondi, who introduced him. "What shows up again and again in these comments [from fellow students] is the portrait of a man who taught with wisdom and compassion, simultaneously pushing his students extremely hard while doing everything he could to ensure that they succeeded." Most notably, he added, although the professor was demanding of his students in the required first-year microeconomics course, he demanded even more from himself.

Kicking off the ceremony, Stanford Graduate School of Business Dean Robert Joss set the context for the award. "Here at the Stanford Business School, we produce ideas and graduates who are expected to have a high impact on the world," he said. "Our faculty play a key part in the production of both."

In nominating Duffie for the PhD award, one doctoral student said: "Darrell is the most dedicated teacher I have ever had. He wants all students in his class to learn, and is willing to put in the effort and time to make sure that happens. The best students from math, statistics, engineering, economics, and the GSB take this class. There is no better way to learn asset pricing than from the master."

Students also praised Duffie, the James Irvin Miller Professor of Finance, for supporting their job searches, helping them expand their educational horizons, and spending his personal time on their issues.

In nominating Kasznik, Sloan students said the associate professor of accounting taught "in a comfortable and safe learning environment for those of us who thought accounting would be particularly challenging. He drew upon our experience and allowed us to learn from each other as well as him. Accounting is not usually considered to be interesting, memorable, and fun, but Professor Kasznik made it all of those."

THREE FACULTY MEMBERS have been honored with new academic chair titles. They are V. Seenu Srinivasan, the Adams Distinguished Professor in Management; Lawrence M. Wein, the Paul E. Holden Professor of Management Science; and David M. Kreps, the Theodore J. Kreps Professor of Economics.

Srinivasan is an internationally known specialist in marketing who has revolutionized academic and applied thinking in his academic field. He has received the Churchill Award for lifetime achievement in marketing research and the Converse Award for outstanding contributions as well as many other awards for his research. Srinivasan's work centers on conjoint analysis (methods for understanding customer preferences), new product development, market structure analysis, and brand equity measurement.

Wein, who joined the Business School faculty in the fall of 2002, is recognized for his work in operations management, supply chain management, medical treatment, and e-commerce. Most recently, he has authored several papers that have influenced government policies in preparing response plans in the event of bioterrorist attacks with pathogens such as smallpox or anthrax.

Kreps, who currently is senior associate dean for academic affairs at the School, is an economic theorist of international reputation. He is a recipient of the John Bates Clark Medal recognizing his work in economics and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Kreps' pathbreaking work concerns dynamic choice behavior and economic contexts where dynamic choices are key. He has contributed to the literature of axiomatic choice theory, financial markets, dynamic games, bounded rationality, and human resource management.

The Adams Family Foundation, founded by Stephen and Denise Adams of Santa Barbara, Calif., has created three Adams Distinguished Professorships in Management for the School. Stephen Adams is a 1962 Stanford MBA graduate. Two of the chairs have been awarded so far. Robert Wilson is the other Adams Distinguished Professor of Management.

The Holden Professorship was established in 1974 by former students and business associates to honor one of the School's original faculty members. Under Holden's leadership the School established its executive education program, and he was also the first director of the Sloan Management Program.
In 1977 a gift from IBM Corp. established the Theodore J. Kreps Professorship at the Business School, honoring the Business School professor who had been a pioneer in economics. For the more than three decades that Ted Kreps was an active faculty member, he was known as a scholar of passionate conviction with a challenging classroom style and high personal regard for his students.

DAVID BRADY, who loves to argue politics and discuss ethical dilemmas, and who's been known to debate what kind of fishing fly to toss at a native trout, has been honored by the Business School faculty with the Robert T. Davis Award recognizing extraordinary lifetime contributions to the School.

Brady is faculty advisor to the School's Public Management Program, a past associate dean of the Business School, and recipient of the Silver Apple Award presented by the Stanford Business School Alumni Association for service to alumni. He is the Bowen H. and Janice Arthur McCoy Professor of Political Science and Leadership Values at the Business School, a professor of political science in the School of Humanities and Sciences, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, codirector of the Stanford Social Science History Institute, and director of Stanford's Undergraduate Program in Public Policy.

He holds Stanford University's Dinkelspiel Award for Distinguished Teaching and the Phi Beta Kappa Distinguished Teaching Award, and is acting vice provost for Learning Technologies and Extended Education at Stanford. Brady is winner of the Congressional Quarterly Prize for the best paper on Congress (1995). He is vice president of the American Political Science Association and a member of the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.

The award, selected by a vote of the faculty, was presented at a dinner in early March. The Davis Award was created in memory of Business School Professor Robert Davis and honors a faculty member for lifetime achievement at the School. Last year's award went to George Parker, the Dean Witter Professor of Finance and Management.

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DAVID B. MONTGOMERY has been named dean of the School of Business of Singapore Management University. The Sebastian S. Kresge Professor of Marketing Strategy, Emeritus, at the Stanford Business School, Montgomery is internationally recognized for his work in marketing and is the 2002 recipient of the American Marketing Association's highest award for contributions to marketing strategy.

Ronald Frank, the Singapore university's president, praised Montgomery as an excellent teacher, prolific author, and effective consultant on five continents. A member of the Stanford faculty for 33 years, Montgomery said he was honored to "help lead and participate in SMU's development as a research university—and the School of Business as a center for grooming future generations of leaders and entrepreneurs." The business school opened in 2000 and is graduating its first class this year.

LARISSA TIEDENS, associate professor of organizational behavior, is the 2003 recipient of the Ascendant Scholar award, which recognizes individuals who have made significant professional contributions during the early part of their career and who show promise for the future. The award is presented by the Western Academy of Management.

Her research interests focus on the feeling and expression of emotions in organizations, and social hierarchy and power. Tiedens' recent publications include "Power Moves: Complementarity in Submissive and Dominant Non-Verbal Behavior," in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, and "Dueling Experiences and Dual Ambivalences: The Emotional and Motivational Ambivalence of Women in High Status Positions," in Motivation and Emotion.

PETER HENRY, associate professor of economics, testified before Congress last spring concerning the Bush administration's desire for free trade agreements with Singapore and Chile that would improve the access of U.S. financial services companies in those countries. Henry, whose research involves understanding how financial reforms affect developing countries, told the House Financial Services Committee that free trade agreements "should refrain from any language that inadvertently pushed countries into prematurely liberalizing dollar-denominated foreign borrowing." He did, however, say that all countries would ultimately benefit from liberalization, provided that it occurs gradually.

"All the evidence we have indicates that countries derive substantial economic benefits from opening their stock markets to foreign investors. There is no reason to think that Chile and Singapore will be any different in this regard." (See more on Henry's research.)