A finance professor with a passion for teaching has joined Memorial’s business faculty as its first Dr. Alex Faseruk Chair in Financial Management Education.
Dr. Emmanuel Haven, originally from Belgium, joins the Faculty of Business Administration from the School of Business at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom (U.K.). He was a former head of the finance division there and regularly received student awards for his teaching.
“In the U.K. I was involved in a lot of teaching on the financial management side,” said Dr. Haven.
“It was demanding and challenging because lots of students have an interest in finance, but when they see what it really is, they say, ‘Oh, shoot.” So, you have to keep them interested and that’s not always easy. One needs also to convince students that finance as a subject is useful from both an intellectual and practical point of view.”
Dr. Haven also says that finance can be made accessible to every student and, as long they’re ready to invest energy into understanding the subject, they can perform well.
Fundraising impact
The Faseruk teaching chair was established in 2016 after a successful fundraising campaign garnered $508,657 from corporate and private donors.
It was developed to honour the legacy of Dr. Alex Faseruk, who retired in 2014 after 34 years with the faculty. Dr. Faseruk is a 3M National Teaching Fellow who received 24 teaching awards during his time with the business faculty, including the President’s Award for Distinguished Teaching, the National Post’s Leaders in Management Education award, a Distinguished Teaching Award from the Academy of Finance and a Beta Gama Sigma Leadership Award.
“To follow in those kind of achievements is going to be demanding, but that’s what we want – we want the challenge.”
Dr. Faseruk also coached Memorial teams in national and international case competitions, resulting in students winning close to 200 awards. He produced more than 100 scholarly works and served on the board of three journals.
Reputation for excellence
As a direct result of Dr. Faseruk’s influence, Memorial’s business faculty developed a reputation for excellence in financial management education and producing graduates who would become leaders in the investment and financial management sectors.
“Dr. Faseruk’s contributions to finance and finance teaching are very serious,” said Dr. Haven.
“To follow in those kind of achievements is going to be demanding, but that’s what we want – we want the challenge. When I saw this chair, I said that’s precisely the kind of stuff I want to continue doing. It’s a fantastic honour for me to get the chance to endeavour following in Dr. Faseruk’s footsteps.”
Fostering business leaders
Establishing the teaching chair is part of the faculty’s continued efforts for excellence and growth, says Dr. Isabelle Dostaler, dean of the business faculty.
“The Faseruk chair is an excellent example of the impact that alumni, donors, partners and supporters can have on today’s business students,” she said.
“Dr. Faseruk’s contributions to the faculty were many, and we’re pleased to have Dr. Haven with us now to build on his legacy. Through their efforts, and the efforts of many others in the faculty, we continue to improve our capacity to offer top-quality financial management education to students and thereby further invest in the business leaders of tomorrow.”
In addition to teaching finance courses, the Faseruk chair is also responsible for developing a new and exciting finance curriculum and an active research program on topics related to finance.
“I think it’s also important to look at the chair in terms of research and how we can become even more internationally known in social science research.”
The chair’s duties also include mentoring junior faculty in teaching and research and potentially supervising graduate students.
“Personally, I see the chair as not only a very important teaching challenge, but I think it’s also important to look at the chair in terms of research and how we can become even more internationally known in social science research,” said Dr. Haven.
“It’s not only just the finance provision and teaching of it. I think if we’re talking about international visibility, you also have to think about the research component of it, too.”
From physics to social science
Dr. Haven’s research applies concepts from physics to social science.
He has published in social science journals such as Economic Theory, Journal of Mathematical Psychology, European Journal of Operational Research, Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, International Review of Financial Analysis, Theory and Decision and Frontiers in Psychology.
He also has published in science journals such as Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A, Foundations of Physics, Physica Scripta, International Journal of Theoretical Physics, Acta Applicandae Mathematicae, Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology and other journals.
He’s also published books with Cambridge University Press, Palgrave-MacMillan and World Scientific Publishers.
Dr. Haven holds a bachelor of arts and master of arts in economics from McGill University and a PhD in finance from Concordia University.
His five-year term as the Faseruk chair began on Sept. 1.
