Faculty Highlights

April – May 2012

  • For the second consecutive year, Professor Andy LaFond’s Federal Income Taxation students worked with the Mercer Alliance to End Homelessness, providing free income tax returns for  low-income individuals, as part of the IRS-sponsored Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program. Read more here.
  • Several accounting and finance majors are completing six month internships at various J&J locations. As part of their internship, these students attend three seminars that are presented by a combination of SOB faculty and J&J managers. The TCNJ presenters are Dr. Nancy Lasher, Dr. Hossein Nouri and Dr. Tom Patrick.
  • Donka Mirtcheva and co-author Barry R. Chiswick recently published “Religion and Child Health: Religious Affiliation, Importance, and Attendance and Health Status among American Youth” in the Journal of Family and Economic Issues. This study examines the relationship between religious affiliation, importance of religion, and frequency of church attendance and the reported overall health status and psychological health of children and adolescents.

February – March 2012

The School of Business values its relationship with engaged business practitioners who serve as adjunct faculty members. With their real-world expertise, they play a dynamic role in guiding students as they work to achieve their academic goals. Here are just a few examples of our first-rate business professionals on staff:

  • Carla Fallone, who teaches entrepreneurship, was recently featured in the The Times of Trenton, for bringing “grass-roots capitalism” to women around the world. Most recently, she traveled to Kenya where she trained women to draft their mission statement and establish standard operating procedures and job categories. Professor Fallone was quoted saying the mission for the trip was “Envision, Teach, Succeed.” She earned her MBA at Rider University and is CEO of Fallone Business Resources. Read the full article here.
  • Joseph Hassan ’99 is a Senior Vice President at Management Planning, Inc. (MPI) where he specializes in the valuation of companies and intangible assets. He has given numerous presentations on business valuation and has testified on valuation matters in U.S. Tax Court. He has an undergraduate degree in finance from TCNJ, an MBA from Rider, and is a CFA charterholder and an Accredited Senior Appraiser (ASA). Professor Hassan teaches finance and serves on Dean Keep’s Advisory Council.
  • With 25+ years experience in the pharmaceutical, healthcare, medical products, and software industries, Howard Nelson is currently CEO of Advanced Plasma Therapies, a New Jersey based medical device and biologics company. In addition to teaching economics at TCNJ, he is a consultant with Capidem, an Investment Banking Advisory company, and President of the Board of Directors for Lawrenceville Main Street, a community organization chartered under the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Professor Nelson received an MBA from Tulane University and an AB in Economics from Princeton University.

November 2011 – January 2012

  • On Nov. 28th, Associate Professor Bea Chiang (accounting) was honored by the TCNJ Chapter of The Order of Omega, the leadership honor society for members of Greek organizations in a joint ceremony with Sigma Pi International. She was presented the Order’s Professor Appreciation Award for her dedication, enthusiasm, and above all, her influence in the classroom.  Dr. Chiang is faculty advisor to the National Association of Black Accountants (NABA.)
  • Associate Professor Kevin Michels’ paper “Internal Corporate Investigations and the Truth,” was selected to receive the Bright Idea Award, sponsored by the Stillman School of Business at Seton Hall University and the NJPRO Foundation, the public policy research affiliate of the New Jersey Business and Industry Association (NJBIA). The 10 award recipients were selected from over 109 research publications and were honored at the statewide Awards Ceremony on Oct. 21, 2011. Dr. Michels was also elected to the American Law Institute – the leading independent organization in the United States producing scholarly work to clarify, modernize, and otherwise improve the law - in November. Read more here.

 September – October 2011

  • Associate Professor Pamela Kravitz recently earned the Certified Benefits Professional (CBP) designation administered by WorldatWork Society of Certified Professionals, the not-for-profit organization providing education, conferences and research focused on global human resources issues including compensation, benefits, work-life and integrated total rewards to attract, motivate and retain a talented workforce. Dr. Kravitz also holds the Professional in Human Resources (PHR) certification administered by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM.)
  • Professor Mark Nigrini was quoted in an article on Benford’s Law in a leading German Newspaper, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, on September 18, 2011. Nigrini is quoted as being an expert in the field together with the results of a study in which he looked at the digit and number patterns of a sample of healthy companies and another sample of companies with serious issues (including GM, AIG, and Lehman Brothers). Nigrini did the analysis in the summer and accounting junior Kalie Pistone assisted with the work as a part of an independent study project.

July – August 2011

  • Sunita Ahlawat was recently elected to a 3 year term as Chair of TCNJ’s Department of Accounting and Information Systems. Professor Ahlawat has published articles in several journals, including Advances in Accounting Behavioral Research, the Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, and the Journal of American Academy of Business. Most recently, she co-authored “Taking Stock of the PCAOB and Investor Confidence” in the Spring 2011 issue of the Journal of Business and Behavioral Sciences.
  • “A Cross-Cultural Examination of Corporate Social Responsibility Marketing Communications in Mexico and the United States: Strategies for Global Brands,” by Karen Becker-Olsen (and co-authors), was published in the June issue of the Journal of International Marketing. The article discusses the importance that consumers place on corporate social responsibility (CSR.) Read more: “TCNJ business professor says communicating global ‘corporate social responsibility’ is good for business.”
  •  Accounting Professor Hossein Nouri has three co-authored publications forthcoming: “Financial Terrorists and the Offshore Outsourcing of Tax Return Preparation” in the International Journal of Critical Accounting; “Celebrity Baby Photograph Donations: A Case Study in Charitable Contribution Tax Planning and Research” in the Journal of Accounting Education; and “Distributive Justice, Promotion Instrumentality, and Turnover Intentions In Public Accounting Firms” in Behavioral Research in Accounting.
  •  Subarna Samanta, who was recently elected Chair of the Economics Department, has authored numerous publications including “Corruption, Religion and Economic Performance in OPEC Countries: An Analysis,” forthcomimg in the IIUM Journal of Economics and Management, Vol. 19 # 2 and “Trends in international bribe-giving: do anti-bribery laws matter?,” co-authored with Rajib Sanyal, published in the Journal of International Trade and Policy, Vol. 10 , # 2. Dr. Samanta is currently supervising two student research projects through TCNJ’s Mentored Undergraduate Summer Experience.

June 2011

  • “A Cross-Cultural Examination of Corporate Social Responsibility Marketing Communications in Mexico and the United States: Strategies for Global Brands,” by Karen Becker-Olsen (and co-authors), will appear in the June issue of the Journal of International Marketing, the American Marketing Association’s foremost resource on today’s international marketing environment. The article discusses the importance that consumers place on corporate social responsibility.
  • Finance Professor Susan Hume moderated a panel discussion on “Women in Quantitative Finance: Challenges, Opportunities, and Experiences,” for QWAFAFEW, the Quantitative Work Alliance For Applied Finance, Economics, and Wisdom in NYC on June 28th.
  • This year, the students of Beta Gamma Sigma initiated the BGS Faculty Awards, as voted on by the senior class.  The 2011 awards were presented during the Commencement Program to:
    Clare Bohnett – The Award for Teaching Style for Engaging Learning Environment
    Erica Kalinowski – The Award for Advising and Mentorship
    Andrew Lafond – The Award for Passion for Business ~ Most Inspirational

May 2011

  • Andrew Lafond, Assistant Professor of Accounting, had 2 publications in the Journal of Accountancy this semester: “Multi-State Tax Considerations for S Corporations” and “Don’t Neglect to Elect, Part II.”  Dr. Lafond supervised accounting student volunteers in the VITA Program this past tax season. Read more here.
  • Associate Professor Susan Hume will moderate the session on “Microfinance Student Loans: Giving Youth a Little Credit” at the Microfinance USA Conference on May 24th, in NYC.  Now in its 3rd year, this conference is a venue for the nation’s leading microfinance champions to exchange ideas and information that set the agenda for the future of the field. Read more here.
  • Bozena Leven’s recent contribution to Inside Business, the Gateway Regional Chamber of Commerce’s monthly publication, examines the costs and benefits of the 1994 North American Trade Agreement between the US, Canada and Mexico. She concludes: “NAFTA Revisited Shows More Benefits Than Harm.”  (May 2011, p 7.)
  • This spring, “Searching for Pareto-Optimal Settlements in Negotiations: The Extreme Payoffs Method,” was published by Professor Joao Neves (and co-author) in the International Journal of Strategic Decision Sciences (Vol. 2, #1.) Dr. Neves is faculty advisor to Beta Gamma Sigma, the the honor society for colleges accredited by AACSB.
  • “Forensic Analytics: Methods and Techniques for Forensic Accounting Investigations,”  by Associate Professor Mark Nigrini, will be published  in June 2011, at Wiley.  Dr. Nigrini teaches auditing and forensic accounting. Read about his Accounting Capstone seminar here.
  • Recent publications by Lynn Tang, Associate Professor of Finance & International Business, include: “ICT development and the Regional vs. Global Strategies of Multinational Enterprises,” in the Multinational Business Review (Vol. 18, #4) and “Asymmetries in Knowledge Dissemination from the Industrial Triad to Asia,” in the Journal of Economic Asymmetries (Vol. 7, #1).

April 2011

  • Teacher, scholar, poet…. Professor Sunita Ahlawat’s observational poetry has recently appeared in Critical Perspectives on Accounting, (2010) 8 pdf icon and Socio-Economic Review, (2010) 8. pdf icon
  • In “How Poland Saved Itself,” Barron’s (March 21, 2011) Professor Bozena Leven explains how Poland was the only European Union member that boosted its gross domestic product in 2009, primarily due to the nation’s tendency to take less risk in lending practices.
  • Professor John McCarty’s contribution to the “Wiley International Encyclopedia of Marketing” — on Database Marketing — appeared in Volume 4, “Advertising and Integrated Communication,” in 2011.
  • Fulbright Award recipient, Professor Don Vandegrift will be teaching and conducting research on behavioral economics and competition at the University of Economics, Bratislava, Slovakia from September 2011 to February 2012.

February – March 2011

  • In November, Professor Kevin Michels lectured at the New Jersey Judicial College on “Legal Ethics and the Judiciary”. The Judicial College is attended annually by judges throughout New Jersey for education on legal issues. Dr. Michels recently received the 2010 Outstanding Professor Award from TCNJ’s Sigma Pi chapter.
  • Professor Gerald Miller – Chair of Accounting & Information Systems – was recently contacted by the Star Ledger, as an expert on the accounting job market. Read the article by Joseph R. Perone here: “Despite economy, N.J. accounting graduates see job opportunities.” Dr. Miller’s work experience includes five years in private sector accounting, ten years in government auditing and eighteen years in academia.  His research interests are in the areas of governmental accounting and accounting education.
  • TCNJ Magazine recently featured economics Professor Donka Mirtcheva’s research which shows that a child’s involvement with religion has a “positive association” with his or her physical and mental well-being. Dr. Mirtcheva, who will publish her results in a forthcoming paper, said the findings support a more religion friendly public policy.
  • Professor Susanna Monseau’s article “European Design Rights: A Model for the Protection of All Designers from Piracy,” was published in the Spring 2011 edition of the American Business Law Journal. Dr. Monseau currently teaches Legal Environment of Business and International Law.
  • In the Feb. 21st Times of Trenton article “Harsh N.J. winter, rising food prices put economic strain on residents,” pdf icon by Robert Stern, Professor Don Vandegrift comments on the impact of weather and changes in farming practices on consumer costs and the economy. Dr. Vandegrift chairs the Department of Economics and has recently co-authored “Open Space, House Prices and the Tax Base,” which was published in the Annals of Regional Science and “An Experimental Test of Behavior under Team Production” in Managerial and Decision Economics.

December 2010 – January 2011

  • Susan Hume served as moderator of the Northeastern Business and Economics Conference Looking Forward in Domestic Microfinance after the Financial Crisis, in October and co-chaired the Financial Women’s Association Conference The Rise of Microfinance in the United States, in November. She also moderated Leveraging Minimum Variance to Enhance Portfolio Returns for the Quantitative Work Alliance for Applied Finance, Education and Wisdom in December.
  • The 10th edition of Herbert “Buddy” Mayo’s textbook “Investments—An Introduction” was published this past year. His 10th edition of “Basic Finance: An Introduction to Financial Institutions, Investments and Management” is forthcoming in 2011.
  • Mark Nigrini was recently quoted in Canada’s Globe and Mail, as an expert in the study of Benford’s Law. Nigrini’s new book, Forensic Analytics and Forensic Investigation, due to be published in March, includes a detailed section on Benford. Read the full article here.
  • Linghui “Lynn” Tang  and Qin Shao (History) were awarded a two-year Business and International Education (BIE) grant from the U.S. Dept. of Education, supporting a two-week intensive summer study tour of the major cities in China. Dr. Tang will focus on several important international business issues of China, including international trade and investment, marketing, and management. BIE funded scholarships are available up to $1,000. Interested students should visit the Center for Global Engagement’s website.

September – November 2010

  • While accounting courses are known for being very structured, Associate Professor Bea Chiang has found a way to integrate real-life projects into both Managerial Accounting and Cost Accounting courses at TCNJ. Pairing up with actual businesses, sophomores and juniors are given the opportunity to learn and practice concepts from class through analyzing actual data provided by partner companies. Over 480 students to-date have participated in these hands-on assignments, with positive feedback from students and partners alike. Dr. Chiang was awarded the 2010 Innovation in Teaching Award by the Middle Atlantic Association of Colleges of Business Administration.
  • Juan Du, TCNJ’s visiting assistant professor of economics, was recently featured in the Times of Trenton, for her expertise in areas of health care-oriented economics, in both the U.S. and China. According to Du, China may achieve universal health coverage faster than the U.S. due to fewer institutional rigidities within China. Read the interview here. pdf icon
  • Marketing Professor Al Pelham mentors students who compete in numerous regional and national sales competitions including the Northeast Regional Conference of Pi Sigma Epsilon, the Indiana University National Team Selling Competition, and the National Collegiate Sales Competition. His recent publications include “Does the Quality of Consulting Related Behaviors Mediate the Relationship Between those Behaviors and Salesperson Effectiveness?” (with TCNJ Professor Lou Tucci) in the Fall issue of the Journal of Selling and Major Account Management. Dr. Pelham brings the excitement into the classroom as well, by inviting sales & marketing experts on a regular basis.

July – August 2010

The School of Business has a solid history of faculty/student research collaborations, as well as independent student publications. This summer, 8 business students are participating in the Mentored Undergraduate Summer Experience (MUSE) with 6 faculty mentors. The following is a select list of recent student publications:

  • “Napster and its Effects on the Music Industry: An Empirical Analysis,” American Journal of Economics and Business Administration (forthcoming)
    Patrick Mooney ’09, Economics
    Subarna Samanta, Professor of Economics at TCNJ
    A. M. H. Zadeh, Professor of Economics, Susquehanna University
  • “Religion and Economic Strength as Determinants of Corruption: A Comparison of OPEC and OECD Countries,” International Journal of Management, Vol. 28, No. 1, (forthcoming 2010)
    Igor Pleskov ’09, Economics; currently attending University of Pennsylvania Law School
    Subarna Samanta, Professor of Economics at TCNJ
    A. M. H. Zadeh, Professor of Economics, Susquehanna University
  • “Does Religion Make a Difference as Determinant of Corruption: Evidence from  OPEC Countries,” Middle East Business and Economic Review, Vol. 21, No. 1 (forthcoming 2010)
    Igor Pleskov ’09, Economics; currently attending University of Pennsylvania Law School
    Subarna Samanta, Professor of Economics at TCNJ
  • “The Evolution of Fair Value Accounting in the United State: A Critical Examination of Its Progress Since 1900.” International Journal of Critical Accounting, Vol. 2, No. 2, 2010
    Daniel Pannone ’09, Accounting; currently Assistant in the Audit & Enterprise Risk Services group at Deloitte
    Hossein Nouri, Professor of Accounting at TCNJ
  • “A Comparative View of Underwriting, Deregulating, and Overturning in Banking,” pdf icon The College of New Jersey’s Journal of Student Scholarship, April 2010
    Jennifer Barr ’08, Interdisciplinary Business; currently a Financial Analyst at Somerset Medical Center
    Nancy Lasher, Assistant Professor of Interdisciplinary Business at TCNJ
  • “Shattering the Glass Ceiling in Accounting,” Tomorrow’s CPA, April 2010 and “Going to School on Green Initiatives,” Tomorrow’s CPA, April 2009
    Colette Shalhoub ’11, Accounting
  • “The Effect of Size, Age, Beta, and Disclosure Requirements on Hedge Fund Performance,” Journal of Derivatives and Hedge Funds, Vol. 15., No. 3, Nov. 2009
    Dvir Frumkin ’08, Economics; starting MBA degree at Indiana University, Fall 2010
    Donald Vandegrift, Professor of Economics, TCNJ
  • “The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX): A redundant regulation for the banking industry,” Journal of Banking Regulation, Vol. 10, No. 4, Sept. 2009
    Victoria Garneau ’08, Accounting; currently a CPA at Ernst & Young LLP
    Abdus Shahid, Associate Professor of Accounting, TCNJ

April – June 2010

TCNJ’s Department of Accounting & Information Systems was well represented at the Regional American Accounting Association Meeting in Philadelphia in April.  Seven business faculty members presented six papers, four of which were the results of collaborations within the Accounting Program.  The TCNJ presentations were:

January – April 2010

November 2009 – January 2010

  • Patricia Wallace co-authored “Deriving and measuring group knowledge structure from essays: The effects of anaphoric reference,” which appeared in the December 2009 Special Issue on Cognition & Learning Technology of Educational Technology Research and Development.
  • On November 7th, Mark Nigrini presented “The Use of Descriptive Statistics as an Analytical Procedure for the Continuous Monitoring of Multi-Period Data,” at the Nineteenth World Continuous Auditing & Reporting Symposium at Rutgers University in Newark, NJ.
  • Andrew Lafond recently co-authored “The State of State Taxation of Telecommuters” in the Journal of Accountancy; “Analysing financial services industry using data envelopment analysis” in the International Journal of Applied Management Science; and “Integrating Personal Finance Concepts into the Introductory Accounting Courses” in Business Education Forum.
  • “‘Fit for Purpose’: Why the European Union Should Not Extend the Term of Related Rights Protection in Europe” and Addendum, by Susanna Monseau, appeared in the Spring issue of Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal.

September – November 2009

  • Bozena Leven’s paper “Poland’s Transition in Business Education” won the Best Paper Award at The Clute Institute for Academic Research 2009 EABR & ETLC Conference in Prague, this summer.
  • “Using Web Technology to Teach Students About Their Digital World,”  co-authored by Lynn Braender, was published in the Journal of Information Systems Education, in July. Braender also presented this research in November 2008 at NJEDge.com, a non-profit technology consortium of academic and research institutions in New Jersey.
  • In September, Mark Nigrini delivered the plenary session for the Association of College and University Auditors conference in Minneapolis. One of Nigrini’s areas of expertise is the study of Benford’s Law.  He co-authored “Data Diagnostics Using Second-Order Tests of Benford’s Law,”  which will be published in Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory, this November.
  • Al Pelham’s recent publications include: “Industry and Training Influences on Sales Force Consulting Time and Consulting Effectiveness,” in the October issue of the Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing, and “The Impact of Salesperson Perception of Firm Market Orientation on Behaviors and Consulting Effectiveness,” in December’s Journal of Business to Business Marketing.
  • In the October issue of Links Newsletter, Al Quinton discusses using “LINKS Supply Chain Management Simulation” in class with mentors from Johnson & Johnson. “This is one of the few things where you can honestly see and let the students see the results of the theory and the examples that you are giving them in class.”
  • Subarna Samanta’s collaboration with Igor Pleskov, TCNJ class of 2009, is forthcoming in the Middle East Business and Economic Review. Click here for the abstract, of this and other Economics faculty/student research projects.

October – December 2009

  • Professor Nigrini interviewed on WNYC Radiolab – Listen to Dr. Mark Nigrini’s interview about physicist Frank Benford, a man whose curiosity about a book inspired a bizarre discovery: “From Benford to Erdös.”

September – December 2009

  • “Professors Daryl Fair and Kevin Michels got into the spirit of Constitution Day [...] holding a forum entitled ‘Two Views on Constitutional Interpretation.’ Fair, professor of political science, argued that the text of the Constitution makes it fairly easy for judges to interpret. Michels, professor of business, argued that the Constitution cannot be the answer to every problem in courts today.” Read more in The Signal: Professors talk politics.

August – September 2009

  • Bea Chiang is collaborating with Assistant Professor Stacen Keating, in the School of Nursing, on a research project that seeks to validate the level of accuracy of the Nursing Intensity Weight Model currently being suggested to policy makers as a potential national model of billing for nursing care.
  • David Letcher and Joao Neves presented “Determinants of Undergraduate Business Student Satisfaction: A Case Study” at the Academy of Business Disciplines, in November 2008.
  • Kevin Michels‘ article, “Third-Party Negligence Claims Against Counsel: A Proposed Unified Liability Standard,” appears in the current volume of the Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics. His article, “Internal Corporate Investigations and the Truth,” which analyzes the obligations of counsel who conduct internal corporate investigations, will appear in Volume 40 of the Seton Hall Law Review.
  • Donald Vandegrift and economics graduate Dvir Frumkin ’08 co-authored “The Effect of Size, Age, Beta, and Disclosure Requirements on Hedge Fund Performance” which will appear in the November 2009 issue of the Journal of Derivatives and Hedge Funds. View the abstract here, along with other faculty/student collaborations in the Department of Economics.