Daniels welcomes seven new faculty members
Seven new faculty members have joined the Daniels College of Business for the 2023-24 academic year in accounting, marketing, business information and analytics, finance, and business ethics and legal studies. Several other faculty received promotions.
“I am delighted to welcome a diverse new group of full-time faculty,” said Lorenzo Patelli, associate dean of faculty and professor in the School of Accountancy. “It is an occasion to reflect on one of the eight principles of the Daniels Fund Ethics Initiative: Respect. Bill Daniels inspires us to ‘honor the freedoms and views of others.’ Thus, we all look forward to welcoming the expertise, interests and experiences of our new colleagues, which will enrich our academic community.”
David Dassler, assistant teaching professor, School of Accountancy
David Dassler brings over 32 years of accounting and finance experience to the classroom, working for firms including Xcel Energy, US WEST and PriceWaterhouseCoopers. He previously taught at Daniels from 2012-2022, as an adjunct professor for the Professional and Executive MBA programs. He is a Colorado native and a Daniels alumnus earning his MAcc and BSAcc degrees in 1990. He is an active, licensed CPA in the state of Colorado and holds the Chartered Global Management Accountant designation from the American Institute of CPAs. Dassler and his wife, Kim, are proud parents of three adult children.
Amrita Dey, assistant professor, Department of Marketing
Amrita Dey earned her PhD from the University of Utah. Her research focuses on visual elements in marketing—in areas of crowdfunding, innovation, prosocial products and fairness—using machine learning for large-scale data analysis through econometric methods. She has previously held senior marketing positions at Tata and Mahindra groups in India.
Leonard “Leo” Dixon, assistant teaching professor, Department of Business Information and Analytics
Leo Dixon earned his MS in database technology and MBA from the University of Maryland and is working towards his EPhD at the Daniels College of Business. He was previously a senior project manager for Warner Brothers/DC Comics division. His research interests lie in the areas of AI and Entrepreneurship.
Saeed Janani, assistant professor, Department of Marketing
Saeed Janani earned his PhD from Arizona State University, where he specialized in quantitative marketing strategy. His research explores the marketing/technology interface and societal welfare outcomes from marketing. Janani was an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Houston-Victoria and, before his PhD, held various marketing management positions for several years.
Murat Kucukvar, assistant professor, Business Ethics and Legal Studies
Murat Kucukvar earned his PhD from the University of Central Florida and previously held tenure-track faculty positions at Qatar University and City University of Istanbul, Turkey. His research includes work in sustainability analytics, sustainable operations and supply chain management, circular economy, and quantitative methods for sustainable business decision-making.
Young Kwark, assistant professor, Department of Business Information and Analytics
Young Kwark earned her MBA from the University of Washington and her PhD from The University of Texas at Dallas. She was previously an assistant professor at the University of Florida in the Information Systems and Operations Management Department. Her research interests are in online retailing, user-generated content and health IT.
Cheng Zhang, assistant professor, Reiman School of Finance
Cheng Zhang earned her PhD from the London School of Economics and Political Science. She has previously taught at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand. Her research interests include derivatives, financial reporting, information economics and empirical finance.
Faculty Promotions
In addition to the new faculty joining this fall, several current Daniels faculty members have been promoted. They are:
- Melissa Akaka, professor, Department of Marketing
- Yashar Atefi, associate professor, Department of Marketing
- Dan Baack, professor, Department of Marketing
- Ana Babic Rosario, associate professor, Department of Marketing
- Ali Besharat, professor, Department of Marketing
- David Corsun, professor, Knoebel School of Hospitality Management
- Tianjie Deng, associate professor, Department of Business Information and Analytics
- Suzette Loving, professor of the practice, School of Accountancy
- Andrew Schnackenberg, associate professor, Department of Management
- Scott Toney, teaching professor, Department of Business Information and Analytics
- Nate Waddoups, associate professor, School of Accountancy