Six new faculty joined the Eller College this semester. They are presented here in alphabetical order.

New assistant professor of economics, Gregory Crawford, builds econometric models of consumer and firm behavior to determine the economic structure underlying various industries, especially media.

Much of his work examines the cable television industry and the effects of bundling…how channels are bundled into services for sale to consumers, and why. More generally, his econometric models can be applied to a wide variety of other industries. How do firms choose product lines? What is the impact to consumer welfare and firm profits of these choices? How do antitrust policies and regulations impact these results?

"This work is especially relevant for company mergers such as the proposed AT&T/Comcast merger," says Crawford.

He has also looked at model building in the pharmaceutical industry, measuring the nature of uncertainty for patients and doctors. The net result quantifies the cost of matching patients to the appropriate drugs.

Crawford received his Ph.D. in economics from Stanford University in 1998. His undergraduate degree, also in economics, is from the University of Pennsylvania. He joins the Eller College from Duke University.

Crawford and his wife Julie Hansen, a new assistant professor in the School of Art, met while caving and Arizona's outdoor life style was a definite draw for the couple. "Although," Crawford acknowledges, "we haven't done much caving since having children. They are three and four years old now and keep us both jumping!" Other activities Crawford has traded for the joys of parenthood include basketball and playing bridge.

Russell S. Cropanzano joined the Department of Management and Policy this fall as a full professor. He comes from Colorado State University in Ft. Collins where he was a professor in the Department of Psychology.

Cropanzano received his Ph.D. in industrial and organizational psychology from Purdue University in 1988. He also holds an MA in social and organizational psychology from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX., and an undergraduate degree in psychology from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.

He was inducted as a Fellow of the Society or Industrial and Organizational Society in 2000 and inducted into the Society for Organizational Behavior in 1999. He received the 1999 Outstanding Book Award for the International Association for Conflict Management and the Outstanding Paper Award for Consulting Psychology Journal in 2001.

Professor Cropanzano's principal teaching and research focuses on workplace justice. "How you treat people impacts productivity and the organization," says Cropanzano. "Certainly, people want good pay and benefits, but they also want to be part of a team that respects their dignity and treats everyone fairly. Attention to justice boosts performance and reduces turnover. Doing the right thing is in everyone's best interest."

In addition to his work on organizational justice, Cropanzano is also interested in worker well-being. "Happy people are productive people," he says.

While this may seem like common sense, he notes that for years researchers derided this notion as a myth and current research proves the common sense view to be correct.

"We have a ton of data that shows worker health and well-being makes for good business. People who are psychologically healthy and feel good about their lives make for better employees. People are simply more productive when they feel good about their jobs and when they feel their company is fair-minded."

Away from the classroom, Cropanzano's time is devoted to his family–wife, Carol, and their two young sons.

Lance-Michael Erickson is a new Ph.D. in marketing from New York University (NYU). He also has an MBA with a concentration in marketing from NYU and an undergraduate degree from Georgetown University with a double major in marketing and psychology. His background includes five years in advertising, as an account supervisor on the Hasbro Toy account at Grey Advertising, and an MBA internship in brand management with Bristol Myers-Squibb.

He teaches marketing strategy at the Eller College and his academic research follows two streams…kids as consumers and how the public reacts to marketing research data.

According to Erickson, children are assuming an increasingly important role as consumers and an understanding of how children develop consumer skills is essential for marketers. His doctoral dissertation explored how children acquire shopping transaction and purchasing skills as they relate to price recall and an understanding of pricing policies.

"This research has important implications for marketers who position their products for children as well as for policy makers who aim to protect children," says Erickson.

A look at how adult consumers react to market research studied polling data through three U.S. Presidential elections. Tracking polls show definite biases based on the day of the week. Polls conducted on weekdays favor Republican candidates; polls conducted on weekends favor the Democrats. Exposure to tracking polls was shown to affect voters' perceptions of the race, feelings towards the candidates, and even voting intentions.

"This was consistent in the months leading up to November for each of the past three Presidential elections," he says. "The next study will look at why this is so."

Erickson balances the rigors of research with cooking–he loves cooking–and baseball. He's already been to a Sidewinders game and is excited to be in Diamondbacks country, although he readily admits his heart belongs to his hometown Mets.

Sandy Klasa holds dual American and Canadian citizenship and, prior to his academic career, he represented Canada internationally in alpine ski racing competition.

Klasa's Ph.D. in finance is from the University of Oregon where he won the 2001 Lundquist College of Business Roger Best/Don Watson Doctoral Student Teaching Award. His dissertation examined why controlling families of publicly traded firms would choose to sell their controlling ownership stakes in the firm.

Other research examines the determinants of the reverse LBO decision, capital structure and performance implications of the financing method used in a merger, and informed trading as an explanation for the high volume return premium.

Klasa has an MS in finance from Concordia University in Montreal, Canada as well as two undergraduate degrees…one in business administration and one in history…also from Concordia.

At the Eller College he will teach undergraduate and MBA level entrepreneurial finance in the Berger Entrepreneurship Program as well as a doctoral seminar in corporate finance. As a new assistant professor, Klasa says he looks forward "Ö to satisfying my curiosity via conducting research and getting students excited about finance."

William Schwartz uses his role as an assistant professor of accounting to take students "beyond the ledger." His accounting classes are required for all finance majors.

Schwartz acknowledges that his research has a synergy with current events. In August, his work on earnings numbers was featured in the Wall Street Journal.

"This is an exciting time to study accounting," he says. "CFO's now have to sign off on company numbers. What I want is for students to be able to use their knowledge of accounting to make judgments…who's good, who's bad? How do investors use accounting information?"

"Managing Earnings Surprises" was the title of the dissertation that earned Schwartz his Ph.D. from the University of Iowa in 2001 where he won the Byron R. Ross Award for Teaching Excellence. He also has an M.Sc. in accounting and an undergraduate degree in finance from Oklahoma State University.

Current working papers include "Are Investors Misled by 'Pro-Forma' Earnings" and "Do Capital Markets Learn from Academic Research? Earnings Surprises and the Persistence of Post-Announcement Drift."

Schwartz counts bowling, miniature golf, and fishing among his hobbies when time allows but it's his "two kids, a dog, and a wife" that keep him busy when he's not on campus. His daughter just started kindergarten and his son is a year old.

Jerel Slaughter, assistant professor of management and policy, comes to the Eller College from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. His dissertation, "Context-Dependent Job Choice: Enhancing the Salience of Favorable Job Attributes" earned him a Ph.D. in industrial-organizational psychology from Bowling Green State University in August, 2000. He also holds an MA in general experimental psychology from the University of Hartford and a BA in psychology and philosophy from Emory University in Atlanta.

Much of Slaughter's research centers on managerial decision making and the recruitment of top job applicants…how do applicants make decisions when faced with multiple job offers?

Multiple job offers? "Yes," says Slaughter, "Even in today's job market, people still have choices…and many of the best still get multiple offers. My research in this area looks at how applicants form images of companies and how they make decisions about where they want to work."

He also has an interest in affirmative action and has studied minority applicants' reactions to affirmative action plans and how their past experiences with discrimination and racism influences their reactions to various plans.

Slaughter loves Arizona's outdoor life style, especially hiking and exercising while enjoying the scenery. He is a big baseball fan and promises to root for the Arizona Diamondbacks when (and if) the Atlanta Braves are no longer in the playoffs!