The FINANCIAL — Harvard Business School professor Shawn Cole has received a Faculty Pioneer Award from the Aspen Institute Business and Society Program. The awards were established in 1999 to “celebrate educators who demonstrate leadership and risk-taking and who and blaze a trail toward curriculum that deeply examines the relationships between capital markets, firms, and the public good.”
Cole teaches and conducts research on financial services and social enterprise-related topics. Much of his research examines corporate and household finance in emerging markets, with a focus on insurance, credit, and savings. He has also done extensive work on financial education in the U.S. and emerging markets. His most recent research focuses on designing and delivering advice and education over mobile phones, with an emphasis on agricultural and financial management, according to Harvard Business School.
At Harvard Business School, Cole has taught Finance in the first-year required curriculum, Business at the Base of the Pyramid and courses on impact investing in the second-year elective curriculum, and various Executive Education courses. He currently teaches the Ph.D. development sequence in Harvard University’s Economics Department and a course for students enrolled in the joint-degree program at Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard Business School.
Cole received a Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2005, where he was a National Science Foundation and Javits Fellow, and a bachelor’s degree in economics and German literature from Cornell University.
The Aspen Institute Business & Society Program recognized Cole and his fellow winners at a special event called “ Business and Inequality: A Dialogue on Business and Business Education” in New York City on Oct. 15. The event focused on how business schools can most effectively prepare students to lead companies in ways that produce a vibrant economy that works for all.
Nominations for these awards were submitted by academics from around the world. Winners were selected by Aspen Institute staff in consultation with a panel of academic advisors comprising Dr. Bruce Buchanan, Stern School of Business, New York University; Dr. Bruce Hutton, Daniels College of Business, University of Denver; Dr. Maureen Scully, University of Massachusetts, Boston; and Dr. Peter Tufano, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford.
Discussion about this post