Congratulations in Order for Five Faculty
President William Powers Jr. has recommended five faculty members at McCombs for promotion effective Sept. 1, 2007. They are Prabhudev Konana promoted to the rank of professor; Kyle Lewis, Raji Srinivasan and Raj Raghunathan promoted to the rank of associate professor; and Kathy Edwards promoted to the rank of senior lecturer.

McCombs Faculty Take Several Awards at American Finance Association Conference
Several McCombs faculty and affiliates took home awards at the annual conference of the American Finance Association held in Chicago Jan. 4-7. Aydogan Alti won the Brattle Distinguished Paper Award for his paper published in the Journal of Finance in 2006, “How Persistent is the Impact of Market Timing on Capital Structure?” Jay Hartzell, Sheridan Titman and Libo Sun won the best paper award from the American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association (AREUEA) for their paper in Real Estate Economics in 2006: “The Effect of Corporate Governance on Investment: Evidence from Real Estate Investment Trusts.” In addition, Ph.D. graduate, Ko Wang, won honorable mention from AREUEA for his paper in Real Estate Economics, and visiting faculty member, Toby Muhlhofer, won an award from AREUEA for his dissertation.

In the News: Huang Research Discovers “Where to Put Your Extra Cash”
The Wall Street Journal, Dec. 23, 2006
Many grapple with deciding how to best invest their money. Recent research co-authored by Jennifer Huang, assistant professor of finance, suggests that some homeowners who make extra mortgage-principal payments could earn more by putting their money into retirement accounts. Her research found that at least 38 percent of households would have earned 11 cents to 17 cents more on the dollar by investing 401(k)s instead of prepaying the mortgage. Those extra earnings would have resulted in additional annual savings of almost $400 per household. Huang said she was surprised by the “magnitude of the loss” when savings are put into mortgage prepayments rather than 401(k)s.
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In the News: Starks’ Research Helps to Understand “January Effect”
Smart Money, Nov. 16, 2006
There’s new evidence to support the strategy of using closed-end bond funds to make a quick New Year's profit. Research co-authored by Laura Starks, chair of the Finance Department, showed conclusively that tax selling is behind this “January Effect.” The researchers chose closed-end municipal bond funds because their price can be tracked separately from the value of their assets and because their owners tend to be particularly focused on taxes. That allowed Starks and her co-authors to tell whether the price changes were due to fundamentals or to investor behavior. Their findings, scheduled for publication next year in the Journal of Finance, are striking. The 168 funds in their sample returned an average of 2.21 percent each January between 1990 and 2000, versus just 0.19 percent, on average, in each of the other 11 months.
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In the News: It’s Not What You Know But... 
U.S. News & World Report, Dec. 17, 2006
Why do some CEOs make so much more than others? Not necessarily because they’re better, argue Assistant Finance Professors Amir Barnea and Ilan Guedj in the working paper, “But, Mom, All the Other Kids Have One! CEO Compensation and Director Networks.” Examining data on the 1,500 largest public companies from 1996 to 2004, the authors found that the more “connected” a company’s board of directors—meaning the more its members served on other companies’ boards—the bigger the paycheck going to its CEO.
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Wenger Jumps: Army ROTC Raises Awareness—to 13,000 Feet Above Sea Level
David Wenger, director of communications at McCombs, jumped at the once-in-lifetime opportunity to skydive with the Army ROTC’s Golden Knights Jan. 4—and lived to tell the awe-inspiring tale to readers of McCombs Weekly.
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In the News: Raghunathan Discusses “Deal Prone” Online Shopping Mavens
Austin-American Statesman, Dec. 17, 2006
Online communities such as fatwallet.com and slickdeals.net are allowing deal hunters with voracious appetites for pricing and product information to share what they know. These supershoppers are called “mavens.” Not only do these mavens score many of the best prices on the Web; they also can influence the buying decisions of friends, family and co-workers. Raj Raghunathan, assistant marketing professor who studies consumer behavior, said that some mavens may be “deal-prone,” or predisposed to seek out sales. “They see a coupon or a discount on a piece of furniture that will only last until tomorrow, and suddenly they feel compelled to drive to the store.”
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In the News: With an Eye on Growth, MBA ’99 Puts Patients First
The Ledger, Lakeland, Florida, Dec. 18, 2006
Heart of Florida CEO Jim Beatty, MBA ’99, may look like the Marine Corps officer he was for 20 years. But in the health care field he keeps patients and colleagues foremost in his mind as he works to adapt the hospital to the rapidly changing landscape of Haines City, Fla.
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McCombs School Job Postings:

• Director of Development, Office of Resource Development
• Career Development Manager, MBA Career Services
• Accountant II, Business Affairs Office 

See past issues of McCombs Weekly.

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