By Dan Fuentes
What is your role at FSU and what does your job entail?
I’m an assistant professor of business in the department of accounting, economics, and finance. So, I generally teach finance classes, and also, I teach business statistics, so quantitative classes. That’s just from the teaching perspective. From another perspective, I have been doing some research. Then also service – I’m a committee member on different committees. This is my overall role as a faculty member here.
What is your professional and educational background?
So my professional background – my undergrad was in engineering, and then I did an MBA, then, another master’s in finance, and then a Ph.D. in finance. And then, I’ve joined here. So, that’s my academic background. Professionally, I have worked as an engineer for five years.
What do you like most about working with students here?
I’d say the most important thing is about their interests in the real world. What I see a lot in my students is they want to know how the real world works [especially in] finance, which is kind of a more math-based class. But they really like it because they can relate that with the current financial condition of the country and the stock market. So, I like it very much that they are very practical and they can relate the learning to their day-to-day life.
Do you have any hobbies?
Yeah, so I work out. Nowadays, it’s hard to go outside as much, but other than that, I love gardening. So, in the spring and summer, I do some gardening, so there’s my other hobby.
How has COVID-19 impacted your job?
So, COVID-19 has impacted, in general, our job for a long time now. So, first of all, we had to move to online. I really miss the opportunity to see my students in classrooms to get their interaction, to get their feedback in person. Teaching online was difficult at the beginning because we had to move online, to the remote environment, very suddenly. It was a lot for our faculty members to cope with that. It was a lot for students to adjust with the settings. After, you know, almost one year into the pandemic. It’s been much better now in the sense that you know they’re more experienced, I have said, because they’re doing remote teaching, and some are teaching online or remote. So, these have been improved, but it was quite hard at the beginning in terms of teaching. Well, there is research about productivity in the COVID-19 pandemic. And the research shows that those who have kids at home, their productivity decreases significantly in terms of research. You know, I have a kid at home – that’s what happened with me, too. The productivity decreases significantly while I’ve been working from home. But the good thing is that we had more time to spend with the family, so this is one positive thing. But first, there was a large impact on teaching or research and also service.
What advice do you have for FSU students?
Well, I’d say because of the pandemic, this market, the job market, will probably not be as good as it was before the pandemic. There will be fewer jobs available, but it will come back around and it will be fine. But we have to make sure we stick to our plans. Stay strong and work hard, and let’s see what happens in the future.