Teaching

An in-depth survey of empirical methods and techniques used in accounting research. The objectives of this seminar are: (1) to introduce you to the major areas of inquiry in economics/finance-based financial accounting research, (2) to familiarize you with research methods employed in that research, (3) to develop your ability to critically evaluate and interpret that research, (4) to provide you with a solid foundation for conducting original research in that area and, more importantly, and (5) to help you be able to generate interesting and publishable research questions.

This course examines the assumptions and decision usefulness of financial statements that are prepared for creditors and shareholders.  Emphasis is placed on interpretation of financial statements, using examples from several companies.

This two core course sequence develops students’ understanding of financial accounting information so that they can be informed and effective users of the information. The courses focus on uses of accounting information for different decisions and from different stakeholder perspectives, and consider the economic and behavioural effects that accounting treatments have on users and preparers. Readings from current publications are used to demonstrate practical applications of the issues discussed in class. Classroom techniques such as case studies, classroom discussions, student presentations and group and individual research projects (intended to develop students’ critical skills) are employed.

The goal of this course is to socialize graduate students into the communication research process and introduce you to how social scientists conduct research, pose hypotheses, and test theories.

In the class we’ll be focusing on learning and applying the most useful techniques for gathering data from the Web. Specifically, we’ll concentrate on hyperlink network analysis, web crawling, and website content analysis. No programming experience is presumed, but all of us will be doing actual research in the course using such tools as the SocSciBot and IssueCrawler web crawlers/link analysis/content analysis tools. It will be a collaborative, participation-based course with an emphasis on “doing” rather than reading. By the end of the semester, the goal is that everyone have a publishable paper on any topic of their choice that uses some cybermetric (i.e., web-data gathering) technique (can be qualitative or quantitative).

This course is designed to enable students to apply communication theory and research to issues concerning the social, economic, political, and cultural implications of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in the “Information Age,” focusing on the Internet and social media.

COM205 introduces the scientific methods used by communication scholars to examine interpersonal, small group, organizational, international/intercultural, telecommunications, and mass communication processes. The class introduces the logic and procedures of scientific inquiry. This course focuses on research design guided by the scientific method. The course is organized around key components and stages of the scientific research process: topic selection, research questions, hypothesis development, research design, data-gathering method (experiment, field study, qualitative), sample selection, operationalization and measurement, and managing, exploring and understanding your data. The principles and practices you learn here are fundamental to any form of research – whether applied or academic.

This online course looks at the role of new media in organizations’ communication with internal and external stakeholders and the public.

This online course will introduce students to the world of finance and “new media.” Though thephrase “the Web” captures a broad array of relevant phenomena, the broader term “New Media” is in many ways preferable — it captures the entire digital revolution in communication brought about by the rise of networked laptops, netbooks, desktops, PDAs, digital cameras, GPS devices, cell phones, iPhones, and myriad other handheld devices. New media have thus given rise to innovative and important means of communication and interaction, including Web sites, blogging, email, chat rooms, e-commerce, discussion forums, social networking (e.g., Facebook), virtual worlds (e.g., SecondLife), wikis, online education, virtual communities, and tweeting and microblogging, to name just the most prominent.

How is this online revolution in P2P, one-to-many, and many-to-many communication relevant to the world of finance? Simply put, online networks of investors, analysts, and the media have come to play a critical role in capital markets. And this class was set up to help you explore this increasingly powerful role through reading about and discussing the issues and by actively participating in and studying real-world examples.

The Internet, especially participatory communication technologies such as blogs, wikis, RSS, file sharing, tagging, and mashups, is proving to have a profound impact on contemporary organizations. Especially exciting is how these new media are bringing about a participatory “sea change” in the way organizations interact with their customers, employees, and other internal and external stakeholders. In this class we will examine this participatory organizational revolution by reading and discussing issues, theories and real-world examples from businesses, governments, and nonprofit organizations across the globe. In the course of our examination, we will investigate such diverse participatory phenomena as citizen journalism, customer-generated media, peer-to-peer production techniques, public deliberation software, prediction markets, “e-patients,” social tagging and bookmarking projects, self-organizing virtual groups, “crowdsourcing,” user-generated and open-source organizational models, and “smart mobs,” “flash mobs,” and “viral marketing” campaigns.

This online course will introduce students to the theoretical implications of the Internet for organizations, individuals, and society.

The Internet, especially participatory communication technologies such as blogs, wikis, RSS, file sharing, tagging, and mashups, is proving to have a profound impact on contemporary organizations. Especially exciting is how these new media are bringing about a participatory “sea change” in the way organizations interact with their customers, employees, and other internal and external stakeholders. In this class we will examine this participatory organizational revolution by reading and discussing issues, theories and real-world examples from businesses, governments, and nonprofit organizations across the globe. In the course of our examination, we will investigate such diverse participatory phenomena as citizen journalism, customer-generated media, peer-to-peer production techniques, public deliberation software, prediction markets, “e-patients,” social tagging and bookmarking projects, self-organizing virtual groups, “crowdsourcing,” user-generated and open-source organizational models, and “smart mobs,” “flash mobs,” and “viral marketing” campaigns.

This online course will introduce students to the organizational implications of “virtual worlds,” online environments where multiple users share a persistent, fabricated geographic space. The proliferation of these virtual or “synthetic” worlds, including Second Life, EverQuest, the Multiverse, Project Entropia, The Sims Online, and World of Warcraft, has opened up fascinating possibilities for organizational life. Synthetic worlds are effectively offering more than mere entertainment, and as such they pose a significant challenge to business-as-usual in contemporary organizations.  Accordingly, in this class we will examine virtual worlds and their impact on contemporary organizations through reading about and discussing the issues and by actively participating in and studying real-world examples. 

Introduces students to the study of public policy and the practice of policy analysis. Examines the various methods of identifying and structuring public policy problems and issues, formulating and analyzing alternative responses, recommending policy actions for decision making, and designing and evaluating implementation plans and the means to monitor and evaluate the resulting policy outcomes. Focuses attention on understanding public policy and conducting analysis in a political/administrative environment in order to develop an understanding and capacity to use systematic analytic tools and concepts to improve the quality of decision making in the public sector.

Covers methods of measuring the efficiency, effectiveness and impact of programs and services. Teaches students to design research projects, interpret research results and evaluate programs. Places subject matter in a context that the practicing administrator can apply to programmatic needs.

This course will provide an overview of the public policy role of nonprofit organizations. The first half of the course will address the nonprofit sector’s relationship to government. We will review the history of civil society, the proper role of nonprofit organizations in the civil society sector, and trends in government-nonprofit relations. We will also examine new frontiers for nonprofits in the market and the “global village.” The second-half of the semester will be spent on practical aspects of the design and execution of effective advocacy and government relations strategies. Topics covered will include organizing for advocacy, navigating the legislative process, the scope of permitted lobbying activities, the mobilization of community support, and the use of the media and the Internet.

PAD 681 is intended to be a challenging and exciting course. It is first and foremost a course about “strategy” and “managing for success” through the integration of all fields of management. Students will draw on their broadened awareness of various environmental influences (e.g., social, political) to solve organizational problems. Many of your other classes do not examine an organization’s “corporate environment” as a whole. Rather, they tend to adopt a functional perspective within a given line of the business or organization; however, to succeed, you should have a basic understanding of the total enterprise, meaning the environment in which your organization operates, its internal condition, and its prospects for success. The course centers around the theme that an organization achieves sustained success if and only if its managers 1) have an astute timely strategic plan for running the organization, and 2) implement and execute the plan with proficiency. We shall stress how and why a well conceived, well-executed strategy nearly always enhances a organization’s long-term performance.

The efficient and effective management of information has grown increasingly vital to the successful operation of today’s public and nonprofit organizations. Fortunately, recent advances in computing technology have led to the development of many exciting tools for those involved in managing those organizations. This intermediate-level class is designed to introduce the student to several of the most powerful of these tools while simultaneously enhancing those skills you already possess.