The College of Business Administration and Singelyn Graduate School of Business at Cal Poly ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ is pleased to welcome six new faculty members who bring extensive backgrounds rooted in academia and business.
Please join us in welcoming these outstanding educators to our community!
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Deepti Agrawal, Ph.D., Assistant Professor Computer Information Systems |
In the classroom, Agrawa focuses on experiential learning and is committed to student success. She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on Information Security, Data Analytics, and Information Systems. Outside of her professional work, Agrawa enjoys hiking and practicing yoga.
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Holly He, Ph.D., Assistant Professor Accounting |
Holly He earned a Ph.D. from the University of California, Irvine, following a strong academic foundation with bachelor's and master's degrees from Renmin University of China, and an additional master’s degree from the University of Rochester. He specializes in Financial Accounting for Decision Making, with research focusing on the role of disclosures in the capital market, the economic consequences of accounting regulation, corporate governance, ESG, and the application of AI in accounting. He’s current work on the new lease accounting standard was presented at the American Accounting Association’s 2023 Midyear Meeting of the Financial Accounting and Reporting Section (FARS) and has been featured in media outlets such as The FinReg Blog. Originally from Beijing, China, He brings a global perspective to the academic community at Cal Poly ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½.
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Maria Ortiz, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Marketing International Business and Marketing |
Maria Ortiz’s research focuses on consumer behavior in the area of socially responsible behavior and online decision-making, such as the effects on consumption amount and subscription decisions. Her work has been published in the Psychology & Marketing journal, while her current work is under review at the Journal of Business Research (JBR) and the Journal of Marketing Research (JMR). Her upcoming courses include E-marketing, International Marketing, and Online Consumer Psychology and Behaviors. She has also previously taught Introduction to Marketing.
Before becoming an academic, Ortiz worked on practical research on customer profiles, economic impacts, and market analyses in New Orleans. She earned her Ph.D. in Business Administration - Marketing from Concordia University in Montreal and her bachelor's and MBA from the University of New Orleans. She is originally from Ecuador and is fluent in Spanish.
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Faheem Shaikh, Ph.D., Assistant Professor Computer Information Systems |
Faheem Shaikh earned a Ph.D. in Information Systems from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore and brings a decade of experience in the information technology industry, with a specialized focus on cybersecurity. Before moving to Cal Poly ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½, he worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Jyväskylä in Finland. There, he developed and taught a course on ‘Online Privacy’, with a focus on European regulation. His research delves into behavioral cybersecurity and decision-making processes related to cybersecurity within firms, exploring the financial implications of these decisions.
In his new role, Shaikh will be teaching courses on telecommunications and software-defined networking, aiming to equip students with the skills necessary to navigate these rapidly evolving fields.
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Liang Sun, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Finance Finance, Real Estate, and Law |
Liang Sun’s research focuses on empirical corporate finance and mutual funds. Sun’s most recent research shows that pilot CEOs are associated with higher intensity of FinTech adoption. Her research and papers cover a wide range of topics, from board structure to mutual fund side-by-side management.
Prior to joining Cal Poly ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½, Sun worked at Illinois Wesleyan University and earned her Ph.D. in Finance from the University of North Texas.
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He Zhang, Ph.D., Assistant Professor Technology and Operations Management |
He Zhang earned his Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering & Management Sciences from Northwestern University in 2014 and his M.S. in Management Science & Engineering from Stanford University in 2008. His research and teaching interests include business analytics, supply chain management, and healthcare operations management. Zhang’s research focuses on healthcare data analytics and optimization, with his work published in prestigious journals such as Production and Operations Management, Management Information Systems Quarterly, Journal of Management Information Systems, and Mathematical Programming.
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Qian Zhang, Ph.D., Assistant Professor Technology and Operations Management |
Qian (Kenneth) Zhang earned his Ph.D. in Business Analytics and Operations Research in 2023 from the University of Pittsburgh Katz Graduate School of Business. His research focuses on revenue management & pricing, information, and platform design using Game Theory. In addition, he is interested in machine learning applications in revenue management. Zhang teaches Statistics and Data Mining courses.