Wake Forest Honors Two MBA Professors with Research, Teaching Awards

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.—Two professors at Wake Forest University’s Babcock Graduate School of Management were honored for their teaching and research excellence during the university’s Founders’ Day Convocation today. Stephen H. Bryan, associate professor of accounting, received the Kienzle Teaching Award and Sara Moeller, assistant professor of finance, received the Cowan Faculty Research Prize.

The Kienzle Award is presented annually to a Babcock School faculty member who represents the highest standards of teaching excellence. Babcock alumni select the winner in a survey taken two years after their graduation. Babcock alumnus Charles Kienzle (’80) provided a gift that established the award, which was first presented in 2000.

Bryan, who previously earned several awards for his teaching excellence, teaches MBA students financial accounting and financial statement analysis. His research focuses on disclosures mandated by the Securities and Exchange Commission and on corporate governance issues, such as CEO and director compensation. His research has been published in the Accounting Review, the Journal of Business, Journal of Corporate Finance, Journal of Accounting, Auditing, and Finance, and the Harvard Business Review. He studied at New York University’s Stern School of Business, where he earned a PhD; City University of New York, where he earned an MBA; and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he earned a BS.

The Cowan Faculty Research Prize is presented to a Babcock School faculty member who represents the highest standards of academic research. Thomas V.E. Cowan, a member of the Babcock School’s Board of Visitors and a 1972 graduate of Wake Forest, established the prize in 2001.

Moeller’s research on mergers, acquisitions and risk management has been published in the Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, Journal of Banking and Finance and the Review of Financial Studies. In addition, her work has been presented at many conferences including the National Bureau of Economic Research Corporate Finance conference. Her research “Wealth Destruction on a Massive Scale? A Study of Acquiring-firm Returns in the Recent Merger Wave,” was nominated for the 2005 Brattle Prize, which recognizes the outstanding paper on corporate finance. Moeller earned a PhD and MA from Ohio State University; an MBA from the University of Alabama-Birmingham; and a BBA at the University of Iowa.