Five Join Smeal Faculty

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA (September 24, 2009) – Penn State's Smeal College of Business has added five members to its faculty at the start of the 2009-2010 academic year:

Edward E. Babcock, Instructor in Accounting
Edward Babcock joins the Smeal faculty after a career of more than 25 years in accounting and telecommunications. Most recently, Babcock served as group vice president of Level 3 Communications in Coudersport, Pa., where he led the company's cultural and financial integration with TelCove, which it acquired in 2006. Previously, Babcock served as chief financial officer of TelCove, and also held senior-level accounting positions at Adelphia Communications, Pure Carbon Co., and Deloitte & Touche.

Babcock is a 1984 alumnus of Smeal, with bachelor's degree in Accounting.

Richard J. Button, Assistant Director of the Institute for Real Estate Studies
Richard Button comes to Smeal with more than 20 years of experience in commercial real estate. He is a partner with CentreMark, LLC, and has worked in commercial real estate for Cushman & Wakefield and New York Life in New York City and Greenwich, Conn. In addition to his role in Smeal's Institute for Real Estate Studies, Button, a Certified Commercial Investment Member, will also serve as an instructor in insurance and real estate.

Button holds a bachelor's degree in Finance from Smeal and a master's degree in Real Estate Investment and Asset Management from New York University.

Jaewon Choi, Assistant Professor of Finance
Jaewon Choi joins the Smeal faculty from the Stern School of Business at New York University, where he recently earned a Ph.D. and master's degree in Finance. His research interests focus on empirical asset pricing, volatility, capital structure and credit risk, and international finance.

In addition to his degrees from Stern, Choi holds a master's degree in Operations Research and Financial Engineering from Princeton University and a bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from Seoul National University in Seoul, Korea.

Brian S. Davis, Clinical Assistant Professor of Finance
Brian Davis comes to Smeal from York College of Pennsylvania, where he served as assistant professor of management since 2006. He has also served on the faculty at Ohio University and at the University at Albany-SUNY, where he earned his Ph.D. in Public Administration and Policy. Prior to joining academia, Davis worked as an economic consultant to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

In addition to his Ph.D., Davis holds a bachelor's degree in Economics from Colgate University and a master's degree in Economics from George Mason University.

Rachel Graefe-Anderson, Visiting Assistant Professor of Finance
Rachel Graefe-Anderson joins Smeal from the Krannert School of Management at Purdue University, where she earned a Ph.D. in Finance and a master's degree in Economics. Prior to earning her Ph.D., Graefe-Anderson worked as software engineer for Raytheon. Her research interests focus on empirical corporate finance, corporate governance, and executive compensation.

A Smeal alumna, Graefe-Anderson holds bachelor's degrees in Management Science and Information Systems and Computer Science from Penn State, in addition to her degrees from Purdue.

Jiro Yoshida, Assistant Professor of Business
Jiro Yoshida comes to Smeal from the University of Tokyo, where he served as assistant professor. He previously served as assistant research specialist at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, and as deputy director at the Development Bank of Japan. His main research interests are in financial economics, real estate economics, and macroeconomics.

Yoshida holds a bachelor's degree in Urban Engineering from the University of Tokyo, a master's degree in Real Estate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a master's degree in Business Administration from Berkeley, and a Ph.D. in Finance and Real Estate from Berkeley.