The University of Nebraska–Lincoln College of Business welcomed six new faculty members for the 2023-24 academic year. Since the opening of Howard L. Hawks Hall, faculty composition changed significantly with more than 50 new faculty members joining the college to drive discovery, create opportunity and empower individuals to lead the future of business.
“Our new faculty hires will help us continue to lead the future of business through their teaching, research and service. They bring a wealth of expertise in economics, which recently became a STEM-designated program at Nebraska; marketing, which includes our award-winning Center for Sales Excellence; and supply chain management, which is in high demand after graduation,” said Kathy Farrell, James Jr. and Susan Stuart Endowed Dean and professor of finance.
Garrett Anstreicher, assistant professor of economics, joined the College of Business after completing his Ph.D. in economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He received a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.
His research in labor and public economics examines the causes of human capital development and economic mobility. Anstreicher's paper “Spatial Influences in Upward Mobility” is forthcoming in the Journal of Political Economy. He also referees for the Journal of Human Resources, the Journal of Labor Economics and the Economics of Education Review.
He has experience teaching a wide range of courses, including Advanced Computational Methods, Ph.D. Micro Sequencing, Game Theory and Introductory Microeconomics.
“Garrett will make important contributions while teaching labor economics, empirical methods and statistics to graduate and undergraduate students at Nebraska," said Eric Thompson, department chair, K.H. Nelson College Professor of Economics and director of Bureau of Business Research.
Xiangjing (Olivia) Chen, assistant professor of supply chain management and analytics, joined Nebraska Business after earning her Master of Science in Business Analytics and Ph.D. in supply chain management at the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University (ASU) in Tempe. She taught a wide range of courses at ASU to undergraduate students, including Global Supply Operations and Business Decision Models.
A problem-driven researcher, Chen broadly identifies emerging problems based on her observations in practice and investigations in the literature, and she applies economic-based models to explain and address the problems. Her current research focuses on platform operations in both private (e.g., e-commerce and video-sharing platforms) and public (e.g., healthcare) sectors. She is mainly interested in understanding the role of platforms in a two-sided ecosystem and renovating traditional operations to solve emerging problems in a cost-efficient manner, which promotes both platform profit and social welfare.
Jennifer Ryan, department chair and professor of supply chain management and analytics and Van Horne Family Endowed Chair, noted how Chen studies problems that overlap with multiple domains, including operations, information systems, and marketing. An example of her work, "The Fairy’s Magic for Pinocchio’s Nose: The Return Policy for Review Manipulation," investigates the fake review problem on online platforms. Unlike extant literature focusing on developing algorithmic solutions, Chen's work explores platform economic incentives via designing operational policies (i.e., return policies). This paper was nominated for the 2021 INFORMS e-Business cluster best paper award. Another example of her work is "Catch Me If You Can! The Economic Analysis of Geofencing" that theorizes the emergence of geofencing, and it was runner-up of the 2022 INFORMS e-Business cluster best paper award.
“Because of the interdisciplinary nature of her work, blending operations, information systems and marketing, and her use of a variety of methodological tools, such as analytical modeling and game theory, I believe Xiangjing will be a faculty member who will look beyond the usual limits defined by the department and seek collaborations across the college and university, thus helping build connections between our department and the others in the college and campus. She will help the department continue to build our expertise and reputation in the area of information systems,” said Ryan.
Natalie Chisam, assistant professor of marketing, joins Nebraska Business after earning a Ph.D. in marketing with a minor in statistics from the Foster School of Business at the University of Washington in Seattle. She holds an MBA from the University of Notre Dame in Indiana and prior to graduate school, worked in advertising and marketing.
Chisam conducts empirical marketing strategy research primarily focused on data privacy. Her research paper, "A Taxonomy of Marketing Organizations,” published in the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science and “A Call for Research at the Public Policy–Marketing Strategy Interface,” published in the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing.
"Natalie has been studying the evolution of data privacy regulation and developed a taxonomy of international laws related to the subject. She is also researching what managers can do to navigate the regulatory environment in response to increased data privacy laws and how firms can use privacy as a strategy to improve performance," said Ravi Sohi, professor of marketing, Robert D. Hays Distinguished Chair of Sales Excellence and executive director of the Center for Sales Excellence.
Botan Çıtıl, assistant professor of practice in supply chain management and analytics, received the Outstanding Graduate Instructor Award for two consecutive years (2021 and 2022) from the Department of Information Systems, Statistics and Management Science at Culverhouse School of Business at the University of Alabama. He taught a wide range of courses in analytics at the undergraduate and graduate levels, online and in-person at Alabama and earned his Ph.D. in operations management.
Çitil's research around analytics focuses on developing and applying methods from optimization to developing improved machine learning techniques. He also worked for companies such as Bosch Siemens Hausgeräte and Denzibank, and brings expertise in information systems, statistics and management science.
"The Department of Supply Chain Management and Analytics is in the process of expanding our popular undergraduate minor in business analytics into a full major. Botan’s technical expertise and diverse teaching experience at Alabama, which has a very strong and well-known M.S. in Business Analytics program, will be critical to the department as we expand our course offerings to support the new major. Having taught introduction to operations management, management science and simulation at different levels and in various formats, he will contribute to many of our degree programs and courses," Ryan explained.
Anwesha De, assistant professor of marketing, came to Nebraska Business after working as an assistant professor at Bocconi University in Milan, Italy. A photographer and artist, she earned her Ph.D. in marketing with a minor in strategic analytics from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University in Bloomington.
Her research interests include social media, influencer marketing, digital marketing, advertising and branding. Her paper, "Impact of Political Television Advertisements on Viewers’ Response to Subsequent Advertisements," published in Marketing Science.
"She is also doing very interesting work on brand positioning and brand-influencer collaborations. Her area of research and her methodological skill sets add to the strengths of the department," said Sohi. "She has traveled extensively in Europe and will bring her international experience to the classroom."
Michael Ricks, assistant professor of economics, joined Nebraska Business after completing his Ph.D. in economics at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He also served as a postdoctoral research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research and a visiting lecturer at Michigan's Ross School of Business.
His research in applied public economics examines the efficiency and equity of public programs with implications for policy conversations about education systems, energy transitions and subsidy design. His dissertation was titled, "Essays on the Provision of Effective Public Services." At Michigan, he was affiliated with the Youth Policy Lab and Education Policy Initiative.
"He will make important contributions to teaching public economics, empirical methods and microeconomics to graduate and undergraduate students within our college and university," Thompson said.
Published: August 22, 2023