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Poole College of Management
Jenkins Master of Management
Risk and Analytics

Four Poole Faculty Receive New Distinguished Professorships

February 2, 2023

By Lea Hart

Four Poole College of Management faculty members were honored recently with distinguished professorships.

The four faculty include:

  • Mark Beasley, Alan T. Dickson Distinguished Professor of Accounting
  • Jesse Ellis, Alan T. Dickson Distinguished Professor of Finance
  • Jeffrey Pollack, Lynn T. Clark II Distinguished Professor of Entrepreneurship
  • Bill Rand, McLauchlan Distinguished Professor

The bestowment of a distinguished professorship in Poole College signifies that the faculty are among the best scholars in their discipline. The addition of these four brings the total number of Distinguished Professors at Poole to 15, including Frank Buckless, the Stephen P. Zelnak Jr. Dean of the Poole College of Management.

Distinguished professorships are created using gifts from supporters of the college with matching funds provided by the state. Each distinguished professor receives funding to support and enhance their research activities. 

Beasley joined Poole College in 1994 and is part of the Department of Accounting, as well as the director of the Enterprise Risk Management Initiative. He previously received the KPMG Professor of Accounting distinguished professorship as well.

“The Dickson Professorship provides me with time to lead Poole’s Enterprise Risk Management Initiative, which provides global thought leadership designed to assist business leaders in enhancing their organization’s enterprise-wide risk oversight in today’s complex world,” he said. “The distinguished professorship not only affords me time to devote to our research-based thought leadership, but it also provides a stamp of credibility and endorsement recognized by business professionals and other academics around the world.”

Ellis joined Poole College in 2013 and is a member of the Department of Business Management.

“(This award) has provided me with the resources and recognition to take my research and teaching to the next level,” he said. “The support and validation that comes with this award has been incredibly motivating and will help me to further impact the field of finance.”

Pollack joined Poole College in 2014 and is part of the Department of Management, Innovation & Entrepreneurship.

“I am so grateful to the Clark family for their vision, and for wanting to give back and support NC State through the funding for this Professorship,” Pollack said. “To be doing what I love, at a place that I love, and to be awarded the Lynn T. Clark II Distinguished Professorship, is truly an honor.”

Rand joined Poole College in 2016 and is a member of the Department of Business Management, as well as executive director of Business Analytics Initiative.

“I am most grateful for the concentrated time that the McLauchlan Distinguished Professor provides me,” he said. “Time to improve on my classes and pedagogical frameworks, time to work on new offerings for the Business Analytics Initiative, time to spend with students who are interested in these important topics, and time to develop innovative research that takes computational methods in business and management to the next level.”

For more information about the impact of distinguished professorships, visit https://poole.ncsu.edu/giving-and-alumni/distinguished-professorships/

This post was originally published in Poole News.