mith boasts a world-class finance faculty, none more renowned in the field than Lemma Senbet, chair of the department and holder of the William E. Mayer Chair in Finance. Senbet has consulted for The World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the United Nations, and other policy institutions around the world on issues of financial sector reforms, corporate finance, and capital market development. Senbet has been a member of the American Finance Association’s board of directors and president of the Western Finance Association. His achievements include extensively cited publications in leading journals, service on the board of directors of the Fortis Funds, membership in the Financial Economists Roundtable, and service on over a dozen editorial boards, including the Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis and Financial Management, for which he is executive editor.

But Senbet does more than just create knowledge—he also transmits it. Senbet is in demand nationally and internationally as a conference speaker, but Smith students are the real beneficiaries of his knowledge; in 1994 he received the Smith School’s Krowe Award for General Teaching Excellence.

Finance Department at a Glance
Smith’s finance faculty is an active research group dedicated to advancing the understanding of financial economics. Their research interests range from the highly quantitative to the more behavioral aspects of finance, and they come to the Smith School from the most prestigious universities in the world.