Faculty Friday; Meet Bruce Haslem, Finance
Posted: December 02, 2016 | Author: Cami Mathews | Read Time: 2 minutes
Bruce Haslem was surprised when he found himself falling in love with the idea of teaching while earning his Ph.D. in finance at Indiana University. As part of the degree requirement, Haslem had to complete one semester of student teaching and after positive feedback from his students, quickly realized that teaching was his true passion.
Haslem was then hired as a lecturer in the finance department at Indiana University for the final two years of his doctoral program.
“I was surprised at how much I loved it, and how much satisfaction I got from seeing students understand the potential value of the material I was sharing,” said Haslem. “As my career, progressed, it is the student interactions that I have come to enjoy much more than the research.”
After completing his Ph.D, Haslem took a job at Florida State University (FSU). While there, he worked on a small start-up that cleaned up wastewater from the fracking process in oil and natural gas extraction. From FSU, he moved to Cedar City in 2011 and started working at Southern Utah University. He is now the Associate Professor of Finance.
At SUU Haslem teaches:
- Managerial Finance 1 (Online)
- Advanced Managerial Finance
- Investments 1
- Investments 2
- Advanced Topics in Finance
- Entrepreneurial Finance (Online)
- Real Estate Finance (Online)
- Applied Analysis for the CFA Exam
- International Economics and Finance
With the help of colleague Steve Evans, Haslem has been able to make significant improvements to the finance program. Together they have restructured the curriculum and degree requirements to match the highest industry expectations. The new degree structure gives students the ability to tailor their program to fit their career goals becoming more competitive graduates.
“We have increased industry participation, offered four new electives that did not exist prior to my arrival, and have improved the curriculum to match the industry needs,” said Haslem. “It makes me excited to see the trajectory of our program.”
Haslem enjoys teaching finance because the skills can be applied to a wide range of endeavors including investment banking, nonprofit management, commercial banking, retirement planning, and/or insurance.
Of all of his achievements, Haslem has been the proudest of his first publication. During his dissertation defense, the finance faculty at Indiana University disagreed with his ideas and told him to start over. However, his work caught the attention of The American Finance Association and was later published in The Journal of Finance. This national recognition quickly changed the minds of the faculty who soon reversed their earlier denial of Haslem’s work.
This moment was a turning point for Haslem. He realized how important it was to work on what he really believed in and not let other people’s opinions deter his path, a behavior he encourages in his students.
“I have had other off-beat projects that have failed, but at least they were unique and something I felt passionate about.”
This article was published more than 5 years ago and might contain outdated information or broken links. As a result, its accuracy cannot be guaranteed.
Tags: School of Business Faculty
