Strome Faculty Weather the Storm
Christine Strong and Kris Irwin
Strome College of Business takes pride in showcasing the work our Professors have done for the Old Dominion Community. We want to specifically highlight two of our new faculty members, Christine Strong and Kris Irwin. Both women have impressive backgrounds and have had many accomplishments while working at Strome.
Considering that Covid-19 has affected us all, Christine Strong, Assistant Professor of Economics at Strome is interested in researching about monetary policy, currency unions, CFA zone, Africa, and central banking. This Spring and Fall, she was able to work through the trials and tribulations that is this pandemic by having two of her research papers accepted at reputed economics journals. Despite Strong being unable to access her office at Strome, she was able to advance significantly on current working papers and research projects by working remotely.
"This upcoming year, my goals are to turn a couple of projects I am working on into working papers and have them out in the pipeline for journal publication as soon as possible" Strong shared.
In addition to research, Strong is passionate about working with students. This past summer, she had the opportunity to be a research mentor for students participating in the American Economic Association Summer Program (AEASP).
"This program hopes to increase diversity in the economics program by increasing the number of students of color going to grad school. This was particularly joyful for me, because as a grad student, I participated in AEA programs for diversity and it really was instrumental to my development as an economist, so it was gratifying to give back and serve as a mentor for the younger generation. This was a fantastic highlight of my summer for me, along with my publications" Strong explained.
Kris Irwin, Assistant Professor of the Department of Management, has also had many accomplishments as a new professor at Strome College of Business. Irwin recently had a paper accepted at Human Relations, a Financial Times 50 journal, on the topic of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). This research has implications for how companies should invest in CSR if they are interested in attracting job applicants. The research findings show job applicants make attributions on a company's values based on their pattern of CSR investments, and will choose not to apply if those values do not align with their own. She has also had a number of research projects ongoing that focus on mergers and acquisitions (M&A).
"These projects include a comprehensive review of M&A motives as well as exploring how motives can help explain additional variance in M&A outcomes. My most recent publication focuses on M&As in the high-tech industry, outlining how small-to-medium sized and start-up high-tech firms are (un)successfully acquired by firms including the Fearsome Five" Irwin stated.
As for recent awards, Irwin received two Outstanding Reviewer awards from the Academy of Management division of Strategic Management and Entrepreneurship at the annual 2020 conference this year, held virtually due to Covid-19.
Covid-19 not only significantly affected students but also new professors, and how they teach their courses. Irwin expressed there were additional challenges; "moving and settling into a new job is always difficult, but the global pandemic has required most if not all communications, training, etc. to be done over email and Zoom."
While it has been a challenging transition, the support provided by the University, Strome, and Irwin's new colleagues has really helped.
"From finding a local pediatrician to having virtual meet-and-greets, the Strome College community has really taken extra effort to help given these unique circumstances, and for that I am very grateful" Irwin stated.
For Strong, Covid-19 has changed her style of teaching, considering some adjustments were necessary given the hybrid format.
Strong explains that she now emails her students much more than before, just to confirm that they are keeping track of what is going on in the class, especially since many of them are tackling remote online learning for the first time or are working full-time. Due to some students feeling overwhelmed, "I have become more flexible and understanding, I know these are stressful and challenging times; my students need a lot of emotional support"
Irwin and Strong have both been impacted immensely from their students after working with them. Irwin, being a part of the new faculty on-boarding process, was privileged to hear firsthand from students how over the past 6 months with Covid-19 has affected our ODU student population. With this information she was able to have a better understanding of the many challenges our students can face. Irwin wanted to be sure she was taking extra care to ensure her students' overall health and well-being while continuing to teach the academic content. For instance, Irwin shared an idea she leveraged from Dr. Ruth Osorio's syllabus, she now includes a "Note on Being Human" on her syllabus; addressing basic needs of students that she believes is critical to create an optimal learning environment.
Overall, Irwin is extremely impressed and appreciative of all the resources ODU provides to our students, and states that "after working with my students, I can say I am impressed by their desire to learn and persevere given our current environment."
Similar to Irwin, Strong believes that working with her students is fun and revealing, and expresses "since being at Strome, I have had the privilege to engage with some very bright kids, they have essentially pushed the boundaries of knowledge with their inquisitive minds."
