culture that I have always found deeply troubling, chief among them the cognitive dissonance between the brilliance of my peers and their complete lack of intellectual curiosity. Most of them are ambivalent at best, and at worst antagonistic, to the very concept of posing the hard questions about power, equality and history that we should be examining as undergraduates of a liberal arts college. They seem aware that doing so will not help them land a prestigious 16-hour-a-day job at some faceless hedge fund, where they’ll learn about manipulating capital instead of imagining a freer and more just world. To think about inequalities would be a distraction from their manufactured task of perpetuating, rather than questioning, class-based systems of power and dominance. Is this what it means to be ambitious in our culture?

It has been a while since we've had a snarky blog post, but with the class of 2013, perhaps it is OK to serve up this delightful piece from The Dartmouth, whom a colleague a Tuck pointed me to.

One must take into consideration the Augustinian values when pursuing a business education, not all learning at Villanova predicates a career in Commerce and Finance.

EMBA Open House Details

The Villanova Executive MBA Open House
Wednesday, March 16 at 6:00 p.m.

The Villanova Conference Center
601 County Line Road
Radnor, PA 19087

   

Join us for a reception with the Villanova Executive MBA admissions team and experience a leadership class taught by Al Chiaradonna, Senior Vice President of SEI Investment's Global Private Banking and Trust Unit segment. Don't miss the opportunity to meet and network with current Executive MBA students, faculty and alumni following the leadership class.

Open House Agenda:
Registration and Welcome 6:00 pm - 6:30 pm
Leadership Class 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Reception* 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm

*dinner and valet parking will be provided.

Registration required - limited space available!

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Villanova Announces Darretta Endowed Chair in Finance

Villanova, PA—Villanova University announced the inauguration of the Robert J. and Mary Ellen Darretta Endowed Chair in Finance and the selection of Professor of Finance

Villanova, PA—Villanova University announced the inauguration of the Robert J. and Mary Ellen Darretta Endowed Chair in Finance and the selection of Professor of Finance Michael Pagano, Ph.D., as the inaugural chair holder. This endowment, generously provided by Robert and Mary Ellen Darretta, was created to enhance the study of finance at VSB through applied research and cross-disciplinary curricula.

Pagano joined VSB in 1999 and quickly established a national reputation for his research in financial markets and financial institutions. In 2009 he was featured in The Wall Street Journal for his investigative look at the correlation between U.S. terror alert levels and activity within financial markets. Pagano was appointed to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s (FINRA) Market Regulation Committee in 1990, becoming the first financial academician to serve on the committee.

As the Robert J. and Mary Ellen Darretta Endowed Chair in Finance, Pagano will direct curricular and programmatic developments on emerging topics in finance to ensure VSB students are prepared for the rapidly changing and increasingly global business community. Furthermore, he will spearhead partnerships with international scholars and universities to enhance the quality of learning at VSB.

“Michael Pagano is a distinguished professor who has made significant contributions to financial research,” said Robert Darretta, ’68 VSB. “His insight and understanding of financial markets make him the perfect candidate to fulfill the Darretta family’s vision to position VSB as a leader in finance.”

Robert Darretta is the former vice chairman and chief financial officer of Johnson & Johnson. He retired from Johnson & Johnson in March 2007 after a thirty-eight-year career with the organization. The former chair of VSB’s Dean’s Advisory Council, Mr. Darretta currently serves on the President’s Leadership Circle for the University.

“It is a privilege to serve as the first endowed chair in finance,” said Pagano. “I am eager to collaborate with faculty, Dean James Danko, and the Darretta family to further elevate VSB’s status in the field of finance.”

FIIIIIII-nance. As in "Fix Me A Drink, Jeeves" Congrats, Professor Pagano. May your exposures always be perfectly hedged.

It turns out that some companies don't want to wait until the 4PM market close to post their earnings online, perhaps because they're worried they'll forget. So what they do is post them online earlier, but don't link to the page from their web sites. This renders the page invisible--unless you know what to look for.

Humans are creatures of habit, and the humans who post earnings releases on company web sites are no different than any other humans.

Which means that if the web-page URL for a company's second quarter's earnings release was, say:

www.disney.com/earnings/Q22010release

It's probably a safe bet that the URL for the third quarter's earnings release will be:

www.disney.com/earnings/Q32010release

My introductory corporate finance textbook, Corporate Finance: An Introduction was published by Prentice-Hall, ISBN 0321277996, in 2008, via a license for the North-American market. In late 2010, I reacquired these rights. I now own the book completely. My principal goal with the book is to improve introductory finance education. It is not to make money.

FIIIII-NANCE. As in "Fix Me A Drink, Jeeves". But kudos to Professor Welch for doing this.

Heading overseas on your Villanova EMBA international experience and want to know what to do for voice options?