Working as a program manager at Honeywell seems like a sweet enough gig, but imagine expanding your technical skills and knowledge base while in that position. Scott Branham chose that path when he enrolled in WVU Online’s Business Data Analytics program. Read more about Branham’s journey here.
Tipping Points
Here’s a tip for New York City taxi drivers seeking bigger tips: Pick up tourists. Adam Nowak, associate professor of economics, and Amir B. Ferreira Neto, ’19, PhD Economics, studied data on yellow taxis in the Big Apple to see if tourists tipped more than locals. They do. Furthermore, theatergoers tip more than non-theatergoers, based on their findings that zeroed-in on drop-offs and pickups near Broadway. These differences between tourists and locals may affect the allocation of taxis throughout the city, conclude Nowak, Neto and Amanda Ross, of the University of Alabama.
A River Runs Through Wall Street
Chambers College alumnus Michael Shalhoup was recently profiled in Forbes for his work in the field of wealth management. This proud West Virginian and avid fly fisherman has emerged as a prominent figure in the finance industry, overseeing more than $1.7 billion in assets at Merrill Lynch.
Immersed in Indonesian
Jana El-Khatib, a Master of Business Administration student from Hurricane, West Virginia, was one of four WVU students to earn the Critical Language Scholarship from the U.S. Department of State. Over the summer of 2021, El-Khatib got to study Indonesian, a language she became interested in after spending time living in Southeast Asia as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant. She hopes to use the skills gained from the scholarship to improve her cultural competency for a future career as a healthcare provider.
Trending
Twitter is more than rantin’ and ravin’ and snarky memes. It can influence stock returns, according to Alexander Kurov, professor and Fred T. Tattersall research chair in finance. Kurov and Chen Gu, a 2018 graduate of the finance doctoral program, found that firm-level Twitter content has information useful for predicting next-day stock returns, and that it is a stronger predictor of returns for firms with less analyst coverage. Their study, “ Informational role of social media: Evidence from Twitter sentiment,” is published in the Journal of Banking and Finance.
Outstanding!
Each spring, the University honors selected faculty members with the WVU Foundation Awards for Outstanding Teaching. Jody Crosno, the Joseph E. Antonini Chair and professor in marketing, was one of five faculty to receive the 2021 award. The committee was impressed by her seamless incorporation of experiential learning and technology into the classroom, exceptional student engagement, and innovative classroom assignments that require her students to engage with customers and clients, such as Camp Virgil Tate, to gain real-world experience.