Quick Links: Chair's Welcome Department Happenings BBA Requirements Faculty and Staff Internships Quick Fact No. 27 LSBE's placement rate for Finance majors in 2003-2004 was 90% with an average salary of $33,507. Eighty-two percent of the graduating majors were employed in Minnesota.

Finance & Management Information Sciences

FMIS Department Staff

JOSEPH K. ARTIM
DIRECTOR, LSBE FINANCIAL MARKETS PROGRAM
INSTRUCTOR, FINANCE
MBA, LOYOLA UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

Mr. Artim’s knowledge and understanding of the financial markets is deep and diverse. He has over 12 years “hands on” experience in many different areas of portfolio management from back office through portfolio manager. He has worked in three major money centers of the world; Chicago, New York and London. Joe’s teaching experience at New York University included a lecture series that examined how the financial markets work. Through this teaching experience, he and his students explored some of the basic theories of sound financial market analysis focusing mainly on techniques market professionals use to make more informed investment decisions; fundamental analysis, technical analysis, trading techniques, risk management, risk-return profiling and risk budgeting.

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GEORGINA BLOCK
Executive Office & Administrative Specialist
A.A.S. Accounting & A.A., Lake Superior College

Georgina is originally from Cape Town, South Africa and joined the FMIS Department in March of 2006 where she serves in the role as Department Secretary. Georgina initially began her career (August 2004) with UMD in the Dean's Office at the Labovitz School of Business and Economics where she supported the Associate Dean and Director of Development.

Georgina graduated from Lake Superior College (LSC) and holds an A.A.S. degree in Accounting and A.A. degree in Liberal Arts. While attending LSC, she was an active participant in student government as she served as President of the Student Senate and also as Treasurer on the Executive Board of the Minnesota State College Student Association.

Georgina currently serves on the LSBE Committee of Awards for Recognition and Excellence (CARE). In her spare time, Georgina enjoys traveling, photography and creating stained glass projects along with furthering her education at UMD with interests in Finance and International Studies.

SAIYING DENG
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF FINANCE
Ph.D., TEMPLE UNIVERSITY

Saiying Deng joined the Labovitz School of Business and Economics as an Assistant Professor of Finance in Fall 2005. Her current research interests include diversification and firm performance in financial services industry, and empirical corporate finance. She has presented her research papers at several national and regional finance conferences. Dr. Deng teaches Financial Markets & Institutions, Financial Institutions Management, Corporation Finance, and Risk Management & Insurance.

MANJEET DHATT
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF FINANCE
Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI

Dr. Dhatt joined the department in January 2000. His prior teaching experience includes appointments at university in Arizona, Wisconsin, Ohio and Michigan. His articles have appeared in a variety of journals including Journal of Finance, Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Research in Finance, Financial Analysts Journal and Financial Review. Dr. Dhatt regularly presents his research papers at international, national and regional academic conferences. In addition to his teaching and research interests, he consults with corporate clients.

NIK R. HASSAN
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF
MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS
Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS

Dr. Nik Hassan, Assistant Professor in MIS, joined the Labovitz School of Business and Economics fall semester 2002. He received his Bachelors in Actuary at City University, London and his MBA and Ph.D. in Information Systems at the University of North Texas. He brings to the MIS department his experience as manager and entrepreneur. His teaching interest is in systems analysis and design and databases. His research interest is in E-business, software development and enterprise systems. He is also working on several university-industry collaboration projects in which he acts as a mentor to groups of students who are working on real-life business problems and opportunities.

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DUANE A. KAAS
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR AND INTERNSHIP DIRECTOR
Ph.D., IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY

Dr. Kaas has over 29 years experience working with Cooperative Education and internship program at the University of Minnesota. As Director of the LSBE Internship Program, he works closely with business communities on a local, state, and national level in identifying opportunities for students to acquire practical work experience related to their field of study. His research interests include program evaluation, career preparation, and experiential education. Articles by Dr. Kaas have appeared in the Journal of Cooperative Education.

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JILL KLINGNER
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
R.N. Ph.D., University of Minnesota

Dr. Klingner joined the Labovitz School of Business and Economics as an Assistant Professor of Operations Management in Fall 2006. Dr. Klingner received her Doctoral degree in Health Services Research, Policy and Administration from the University of Minnesota. Her research interest areas include rural health care, Medicare, health outcomes, access to supplemental insurance for disabled Medicare beneficiaries, quality of care, and quality measurement development and implementation.

Dr. Klingner is a longtime member of the University of Minnesota's IRB and has served as a mentor and advisor for health management students. She is a Registered Nurse with a wide range of clinical experience from pediatric intensive care to refugee work in Thailand. Prior to graduate school, Ms. Klingner worked at MedCenters/HealthPartners, a nationally recognized HMO, in quality and utilization review, analysis and development. Dr. Klingner teaches courses in Health Care Management and Operations Management.

LAILA LUNDE
INSTRUCTOR OF FINANCE
MBA, University of Minnesota

Lai La is the Vice President of Finance and Corporate Controller for Cirrus Design Corporation, a Duluth-based general aviation manufacturer, and brings over 25 years of progressive experience in internal and external reporting, business planning and analysis, information system project management and human resource management to the classroom.

Throughout her career, she actively seeks solutions to improve operational efficiency and effectiveness through business process redesign and information technology. Prior to Cirrus Design, Lai La had worked as VP-Controller for Michelina's Inc. for 6 years and had held various finance positions with the Pillsbury Company for 14 years. In addition to teaching at UMD, she has also taught Management Accounting at the Carlson School of Management.

SEUNG C. LEE
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF
MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS
Ph.D., TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY

Dr. Seung Lee, Associate Professor in MIS, joined the Labovitz School of Business and Economics fall semester 1999. With his addition to the school, we now have a strong MIS department. Seung earned his Ph.D. from Texas Tech University and, was most recently a faculty member at Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York. His primary teaching interest is in electronic commerce and Web technologies, while his primary research interest is in web information systems. He has published several papers and has several under review in the areas of internet economics and Web information systems.

DAHUI LI
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF
MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS
Ph.D., TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY

Dahui Li joined the Labovitz School of Business and Economics as an assistant professor of MIS in 2002. He teaches Database Management and Information Technology in Business. His current research interests include internet buyer behavior, business-consumer relationships, and IT innovation. His research has been presented at several prestigious conferences.

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ROD J. LIEVANO
PROFESSOR OF MANAGEMENT SCIENCE
Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON

Professor Lievano teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in operations management. He is a former Dean of the LSBE and of the School of Business and Public Administration at the University of Hartford. He also has had faculty, administrative and research appointments at the universities of New Mexico and Houston. His interests and activities have led to publications and consulting in energy economics, policy analysis and decision support, and advisory roles in international organizations through the U.S. Agency for International Development and U.S. Information Agency. He was recently selected for the Fulbright Senior Specialists Roster administered by the Council for International Exchange of Scholars. Professor Lievano’s current research interest is in AI-assisted or “intelligent” data analysis systems. He has obtained research grants from the LSBE and the University of Minnesota and founded the Association for Intelligent Data Analysis (AIDA) to stimulate interdisciplinary research and promote interest in these topics at LSBE and UMD. 

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PATRICIA A. MERRIER
PROFESSOR OF BUSINESS COMMUNICATIONS
Ph.D, UNIVERSITY OF NORTH DAKOTA

Dr. Merrier has authored articles published in a variety of journals including Delta Pi Epsilon Journal,Journal of Education for Business, Business Communication Quarterly, and Management World. She is co-author of Business Communication and sole author of Basics of Business Communication texts designed for use in post-secondary schools. Pat has had leadership roles with several professional organizations and frequently presents her work at regional and national conferences. In the spring of 2003, she was named recipient of the LSBE Faculty Advisement award. She enjoys cross-disciplinary research and collaborative research; projects are in progress with UMD colleagues and with faculty elsewhere. Pat is past-President of UEA, the faculty bargaining unit.

HENRY B. PERSON
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS

Dr. Person joined the LSBE Faculty in 1974, and still enjoys teaching and working with students.
Currently he teaches FMIS 3301 Production and Operations Management (POM) and FMIS 2225 Introduction to Visual Basic .NET Programming, which he developed as a new course for MIS Majors and Minors beginning Fall 2006. He has recently taught FMIS 2201 Information Technology in Business. He has previously taught FMIS 3224 Telecommunications and many other FMIS courses.

Dr. Person has an active interest in applications of information technology in the learning process.
He is administrator for the LSBE site license for the SAM 2003 computer based training and assessment system. SAM is used to enhance student skills with Microsoft Office applications in several LSBE courses. He also serves as administrator for the FMIS Department subscription to theMicrosoft Developer Network (MSDN) Academic Alliance program which provides MIS majors and minors with developer tools for non-commercial, educational use.

He is a member of the Decision Sciences Institute. He has served on the Board of Examiners for the Minnesota Quality Award. He is an experienced consultant and presenter of executive development programs. He has published in Decision Sciences and other journals.

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JAMES VIZANKO
INSTRUCTOR OF FINANCE
MBA, University of Minnesota Duluth & CFA

James Vizanko joined the Labovitz School of Business and Economics as an Instructor of Finance in Fall 2006. He brings to the classroom over 25 years of active and diverse corporate financial experience as he worked with Minnesota Power, now Allete, since 1977 in various positions such as Senior Financial Analyst, Manager of Financial Planning and Analysis, Corporate Treasurer, Vice-President, Senior Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Vizanko holds professional certification as a Chartered Financial Analyst. Along with his business experience, Jim brings with him several years of teaching. He teaches Corporation Finance and Portfolio Management.

JUNHUA WANG
Assistant Professor of Business Communications
Ph.D., Texas Tech University

Junhua Wang holds a doctorate in Technical Communication and Rhetoric from Texas Tech University. She joins the FMIS Department as an Instructor for Business Communication fall 2007. She is interested in cross-cultural business and technical communication, especially social contextual factors' impact on culture and communication in the present age. She has published in leading technical communication journals. Previously she worked in Ericsson China and Accenture Asia Pacific with business communication positions.

QIMING WANG
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF FINANCE
Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA

Qiming Wang joined the Labovitz School as an Assistant Professor of Finance in Fall 2005. Dr. Wang's research interests cover a range of topics in corporate finance and investments, with specific interests in initial public offerings, ownership structures and capital structures, emerging markets, and credit risk modeling and fixed income securities. His research has been presented at several prestigious conferences. Dr. Wang teaches Corporation Finance, Investment Fundamentals, and Financial Statement Analysis for the FMIS Department.  

SHEE Q. WONG, DEPARTMENT HEAD
PROFESSOR OF FINANCE
Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN, MILWAUKEE

Dr. Wong's articles have been published in the Journal of Financial Research, Quarterly Journal of Business and Economics, Review of Business and Economic Research, Review of Industrial Organization, Midwest Journal of Business and Economics, American Business Review and others. He has received several research grants and has been presenting his research results frequently at national and regional professional meetings. Dr. Wong's current research and teaching interests are in the areas of Options and Futures, Investment and Portfolio Management, and Investor Sentiments and Market Returns. Dr. Wong was named recipient of the LSBE Outstanding Faculty Advisement Award in 2005.

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