In an effort to expand its offerings to students, the University of Michigan Ross School of Business has hired six new faculty members. Members of the Ross faculty are routinely rated among the top researchers in the world, so it’s no surprise that the new faculty members have notable pedigrees.
It’s also notable that five out of the six new faculty members are women. Over the last five years, Ross has made a point of hiring an equal number of men and women, part of its “efforts to retain a faculty that is not only centered on excellence but also one that better reflects the diversity of our community,” according to a press release announcing the new hires. This most recent set of hires is the largest group of women to fill tenure and tenure-track positions in the past decade.
The six new faculty bring unique experiences and specialties to the school.
Charleen R. Case
Case joins the faculty as an assistant professor of management and organizations after receiving her PhD in social psychology from Florida State University. Her research covers such topics as social hierarchy and leadership, with a focus on the motives for people’s behavior within social hierarchies and coalitions, as well as the downstream consequences of those motives.
Julia Lee
Lee earned her PhD in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School and joins the Ross faculty as an assistant professor of management and organizations. From 2015 to 2017, she was a post-doctoral fellow at Ross, researching the use of employee social networks to generate positive psychological, physiological, and organizational outcomes.
Nirupama Rao
Rao received her PhD in economics from MIT and joins Ross as an assistant professor of business economics and public policy. Her research areas include the economic effects of fiscal policy and how that impacts firm production, investment, pricing decisions, and individual consumption. Prior to accepting her current position at Ross, Rao worked with the Obama administration and was an assistant professor of economics and public policy at New York University’s Wagner School of Public Service.
Shima Nassiri
Nassiri joins the Ross School as an assistant professor of technology and operations having recently earned her PhD from the UW Foster School of Business. Her research interests include designing coordination mechanisms for supply chains and how this can be applied to healthcare and public health policy. She also studies healthcare operations.
Gwen Yu
Yu is an associate professor of accounting at Ross. She serves on the editorial board of The Accounting Review and previously worked an associate professor of business administration at Harvard Business School. She’s also a Ross alumna, having recieved her PhD from the school in 2010. Her research focuses on information frictions in the global economy, including cross-border frictions.
John Silberholz
Silberholz joins the Ross faculty as an assistant professor of technology and operations. He earned his PhD from MIT, where he also worked as a lecturer. His research includes healthcare analytics, particularly cancer screening and treatment. He also uses machine learning to predict clinical trial outcomes and has co-authored papers on the topic.
Faculty Interviews
To learn more about Ross’ newest hires, we spoke with them directly to understand what they bring to the school.
Clear Admit: What brought you to Michigan Ross?
Charleen Case: When I was on the market for academic positions, I knew that I wanted to be a part of an intellectually engaging community of scholars who were passionate about their research and also deeply invested in the success of their students. Ross turned out to have all those things, and more! At Ross, I feel part of an inclusive community that inspires personal growth and is committed to helping people change their organizations—and the world—for the better.
CA: What specialty/insight do you bring to the school?
Nirupama Rao: As someone who focuses on the intersection of business and government, I bring a different viewpoint. Right now, there’s a huge role for the government to support the health and overall efficiency of our economy through building infrastructure, promoting competition, and investing human capital. But I also believe we need a tax system that affects business as little as possible. The intersection of business and government is something that has a lot of potential business applications for students.
CA: Why are you excited to be a part of Ross’ faculty?
Gwen Yu: I’m lucky to be at a place with people who I care about and people who care about me. Academic research shows that those types of relationships drive professional commitment, satisfaction, and productivity. I’ve heard “welcome back” many times, and that phrase summarizes the reason that I’m excited to be here. People know who I am, but they’re also interested to see how I have grown and what I can bring to the community. That gives me a sense of comfort and challenge as well.
To learn more about the Michigan Ross faculty and these most recent new hires, as well as additional intermittent lecturers joining the faculty, click here.
