Popular Professors
The Chicago Booth faculty is populated with many prominent business leaders, researchers, and teachers. Among Chicago Booth students, there are a handful of professors who are considered “must haves,” due to their reputation both as educators and as experts. Below is a list of highly popular Chicago Booth faculty in various fields.
Steven Kaplan, Neubauer Family Distinguished Service Professor of Entrepreneurship and Finance
Professor Kaplan primarily teaches Entrepreneurial Finance and Private Equity. A quarter does not go by without students complaining that they were unable to get into his class prior to graduation. His courses are highly competitive choices during the bidding process, and students are only able to take his courses late in their program, when they have accumulated enough point “wealth.” Professor Kaplan consistently attains top scores in Chicago Booth’s internal faculty rankings by students over the last decade.
Eugene Fama, Robert R. McCormick Distinguished Service Professor of Finance
Professor Fama is part of the “Chicago School of Economics,” which is not a school per se but is a group of thinkers from the University of Chicago’s economics, business, and law schools who promoted free market theories and countered the Keynesian ideals. The percentage of students who take Professor Fama’s class is relatively small because his course content is highly specific, is highly rigorous, and has a scope that may go beyond the average Chicago Booth student’s interest. Professor Fama has been called “the father of modern finance” and is highly respected both in academic circles and in the outside investment community. Taking a “Fama course” and doing well does wonders for the credibility of a Chicago Booth graduate in the field of finance, but, truth be told, only highly skilled Chicago Booth students with an interest in analytical finance tend to enjoy his classes.
Waverly Deutsch, Clinical Professor of Entrepreneurship
A longtime angel investor and startup consultant, Professor Deutsch teaches Building the New Venture, one of the most popular courses at Booth. She developed an award-winning startup simulation game called YourCo, which provides students an experiential learning opportunity while learning how to operate a new venture. The course covers a variety of topics facing entrepreneurs who seek to grow their businesses, including marketing, sales, operations, and team building.
Austan Goolsbee, Robert P. Gwinn Professor of Economics
Professor Goolsbee recently returned from Washington, where he was the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers and a member of President Professor Goolsbee recently returned from Washington, where he was the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers and a member of President Barack Obama’s cabinet. Goolsbee is highly popular at Chicago Booth and was named a “star professor” in Businessweek&’s Guide to the Best Business Schools (twice!). An expert in the field of economics, Professor Goolsbee discusses current and relevant issues with a unique sense of humor. A dedicated faculty member, Professor Goolsbee wore a tuxedo to class and then got married that same afternoon. His research has earned him a great deal of professional recognition, and he has collected many awards and accolades.
Sanjay Dhar, James H. Lorie Professor of Marketing
Professor Dhar primarily teaches Marketing Strategy and is very active in all of the Chicago Booth MBA programs. Professor Dhar makes this list because his passion in teaching is infectious. He makes the effort to truly know his students, and it is not uncommon for Professor Dhar to have all 65 (or more) students in his class remove their name cards so he may recite their names back on the first day of class. Dhar is the recipient of several awards, such as the McKinsey Award for Teaching Excellence in 2000, and was cited among the outstanding faculty in Businessweek‘s Guide to the Best Business Schools.
Art Middlebrooks, Clinical Professor of Marketing; Executive Director, Kilts Center for Marketing
Art Middlebrooks is a prime example of a great adjunct faculty member. His teaching method of “learning by doing” is appropriate in his Services Marketing and Product Marketing classes. As a Chicago Booth alumnus, he really connects well with his students and continually gets top marks in faculty evaluations. Professor Middlebrooks is also the current executive director of the Kilts Center for Marketing and the coauthor of Innovating the Corporation and Market Leadership Strategies for Service Companies.
Harry Davis, William H. Abbott Professor of International Business and Economics
Harry Davis, who served as interim dean of Chicago Booth before Sunil Kumar took over, is the type of professor who brings balance and perspective to the MBA experience. His Business Policy course is not at all the typical Chicago Booth fare. While most courses at Chicago Booth tend to dominate the left brain, Professor Davis focuses more on right-brain activity: being intuitive, holistic, and metaphorical. Part of the Chicago Booth faculty since the mid-1960s, Professor Davis was once co-dean of the program and was integral to Chicago Booth’s push to establish campuses in other countries.
James Schrager, Clinical Professor of Entrepreneurship and Strategic Management
James E. Schrager’s New Venture Strategy is another highly sought-after course at Chicago Booth. His credibility in the business community equals his reputation as a faculty member at Chicago Booth, and his expertise is on display in multiple mainstream media formats, such as the Wall Street Journal and various major television networks. Chicago Booth students across the board absolutely love taking his class.
