7 Jones School professors recognized with teaching honors

Seven members of the Jones Graduate School of Business faculty were recognized for their excellence in teaching at the school’s May 12 investiture ceremony at Tudor Fieldhouse. Honorees were chosen by the Rice MBA alumni group as well as by students from the Jones School’s three MBA programs.

From left, Hajo Adam, Gustavo Grullon, Mikki Hebl, Brian Akins, Alan Crane, Prashant Kale and Vikas Mittal were recognized for their excellence in teaching. Photo by Jeff Fitlow

Hajo Adam, assistant professor of management, received the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business Full-Time MBA Award for Teaching Excellence. Adam joined the Rice faculty in 2012, and his teaching interests include negotiation, organizational behavior, culture and conflict.

The Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business MBA for Professionals Evening Award for Teaching Excellence was presented to Brian Akins, assistant professor of accounting, and Alan Crane, assistant professor of finance. Akins’ research focuses on financial reporting quality and the impact of accounting in debt and equity market settings; Crane’s focuses on the role institutions play in financial policy decisions of firms and the investment performance of those institutions.

Prashant Kale, associate professor of strategic management, was honored with the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business MBA for Professionals Weekend Award for Teaching Excellence. A member of the faculty since 2007, Kale teaches the Core Strategy Course in the full-time, professional and executive MBA programs and has also taught electives on managing strategic alliances, mergers and acquisitions and health care strategy.

The Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business MBA for Executives Award for Teaching Excellence was presented to Gustavo Grullon, the Jesse H. Jones Professor of Finance, and Mikki Hebl, the Martha and Henry Malcolm Lovett Chair of Psychology, professor of psychology and professor of management. Grullon specializes in mergers, acquisitions and corporate finance; Hebl’s research focuses on workplace discrimination and the barriers stigmatized individuals face in social interactions, the hiring process, business settings and the medical community.

Vikas Mittal, the J. Hugh Liedtke Professor of Marketing, received the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business Alumni Award for Excellence in Teaching. Mittal’s teaching interests include marketing research, customer-focused strategy and advanced marketing research.

For more information about Jones School faculty and their teaching and research, go to https://business.rice.edu/faculty-and-research.