Bauer Welcomes 18 New Faculty
Bauer College Supports Student Success with New Faculty
The C. T. Bauer College of Business started the Fall 2026 semester with the addition of 18 new faculty members.
They bring with them decades of industry experience, impressive research portfolios and a track record of teaching excellence. They shared more on their backgrounds and what they hope to contribute to the Bauer community.
Tenure-Track Faculty
Nathaniel Hartmann
Associate Professor, Department of Marketing & Entrepreneurship
Education: Ph.D. (Purdue University)
Research interests: Personal selling and salesforce management
Favorite topic to teach: General marketing topics
Top academic journals: Journal of Marketing, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes and Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science
Fun fact: Throughout the course of his moves across the country, he has become interested in property investment.
Yongzhao (Vincent) Lin
Assistant Professor, Department of Accountancy & Taxation
Education: Ph.D. in Accounting (Washington University in St. Louis)
Research interests: Implications of institutional forces shaping the corporate information environment and business behaviors, contracting in the private debt market
Favorite topic to teach: Data science
Top academic journals: The Accounting Review
Fun fact: Lin grew up carrying an umbrella because of his hometown’s rainy climate.
Lifei (Fay) Sheng
Assistant Professor, Department of Decision & Information Sciences
Education: Ph.D. (University of British Columbia)
Research interests: Operations management of the entertainment industry, particularly video games
Favorite topic to teach: Supply chain management
Top academic journals: Management Science and Production and Operations Management
Fun fact: Sheng enjoys traveling.
Cyril (Tae) Um
Assistant Professor, Department of Management & Leadership
Education: Ph.D. in Strategic Management (Purdue University, Krannert School of Management)
Research interests: Governance and innovation
Favorite topic to teach: Strategic management and innovative technology
Top academic journals: Academy of Management Journal and Journal of Management
Fun fact: He is trained in jiu-jitsu and Olympic weightlifting.
Xiang (Shawn) Wan
Assistant Professor, Department of Decision & Information Sciences
Education: Ph.D. (University of Florida)
Research interests: Artificial intelligence & digital platforms, FinTech & blockchain and human-algorithm interaction
Favorite topic to teach: Artificial intelligence
Top academic journals: Information Systems Research, Management Science, Journal of Operations Management, and Production and Operations Management
Fun fact: On June 16, 2026, he spent over 26 hours hiking Mount Whitney, the highest mountain in the lower 48 states at 14,505 feet.
Seoin Yoon
Assistant Professor, Department of Management & Leadership
Education: Ph.D. in Management (Texas A&M University, Mays Business School)
Research interests: Psychological vulnerability experienced in the workplace
Favorite topic to teach: Challenges in leadership
Top academic journals: Journal of Applied Psychology and Personnel Psychology
Fun fact: She is a big fan of musicals, her favorite being “RENT.”
Yeo Sang (Johnny) Yoon
Assistant Professor, Department of Accountancy & Taxation
Education: Ph.D. in Accounting (University of Minnesota, Carlson School of Management)
Research interests: Governance and disclosure, information production and processing
Favorite topic to teach: Introductory accounting and intermediate accounting
Top academic journals: The Accounting Review
Fun fact: Yoon lost 80 pounds in six months.
Lin Zang
Assistant Professor, Department of Decision & Information Sciences
Education: Ph.D. (University of Rochester)
Research interests: Queuing theory and customer behavior
Favorite topic to teach: Excel
Top academic journals: Paper under revision at Management Science and Operations Research
Fun fact: Zang enjoys reflecting on what makes us human.
Hanyu Zhang
Assistant Professor, Department of Management & Leadership
Education: Ph.D. in Marketing (Emory University)
Research interests: Social networks, graph machine learning and consumer analytics
Favorite topic to teach: Artificial intelligence in marketing
Fun fact: She is a proud cat parent to her two cats, Sirius and Shuer.
Non-Tenure Track Faculty
Sina Asadi
Professor of Practice, Department of Decision & Information Sciences
Education: Ph.D. (University of Louisiana at Lafayette)
Research interests: Artificial intelligence and machine learning
Favorite topic to teach: Artificial intelligence and machine learning
Fun fact: Asadi is a bodybuilder.
Julianne Cenac
Adjunct Faculty, Department of Management & Leadership
Education: Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership (Regent University)
Research interests: Leadership development and AI adoption
Favorite topic to teach: Organizational behavior and artificial intelligence workforce transformation
Top academic journals: Journal of Biblical Perspectives in Leadership
Fun fact: Cenac plays the cello.
Yuan Dong
Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Decision & Information Sciences
Education: Ph.D. in Business Administration with a concentration in Supply Chain and Operations Management (Temple University, Fox School of Business)
Research interests: Analysis of disruptive innovation and how they impact the industry
Favorite topic to teach: Anything that's closely related to his research
Top academic journals: Paper under review for Information Systems Research
Fun fact: His first name, Yuan, is also known as a Chinese currency. He is also a foodie.
Julie Duncan
Adjunct Faculty, Department of Accountancy & Taxation
Education: MS Finance (Texas A&M University), CPA
Research interests: 12 years of teaching experience and interacting with students through campus student clubs
Favorite topic to teach: Financial literacy and foundational accounting
Fun fact: She is a native Houstonian. Her favorite restaurant is Original Ninfa’s.
Jay Hellums (BBA ‘78)
Adjunct Faculty, Department of Finance
Education: MBA (Rice University, Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business)
Research interests: More than 30 years of experience in electricity markets
Favorite topic to teach: Energy markets and entrepreneurship
Fun fact: A few years ago, he chartered a sailboat with his wife and sailed around Ithaca.
Stephanie Pelaez (MS ‘23)
Adjunct Faculty, Department of Marketing & Entrepreneurship
Education: MS Marketing (C. T. Bauer College of Business)
Research interests: Digital marketing
Favorite topic to teach: Best marketing practices
Fun fact: She worked part time at the dental office on campus running their social media.
Mridu Pradhan
Instructional Assistant Professor, Department of Finance
Education: Ph.D. (University of New Orleans; recently renamed to LSU New Orleans)
Research interests: Empirical corporate finance
Favorite topic to teach: Investments and corporate finance
Top academic journals: Quarterly Journal of Finance and Accounting
Fun fact: Pradhan loves making art in her free time. She also enjoys traveling and hiking.
Sherien Owida
Adjunct Faculty, Department of Finance
Education: Executive MBA in Banking and Financial Institutions (Sam Houston State University)
Research interests: Credit analysis and portfolio management
Favorite topic to teach: Banking and credit risk management
Fun fact: She speaks Arabic fluently.
Robert Shanks
Professor of Practice, Department of Accountancy & Taxation
Education: Ph.D. (University of South Florida)
Research interests: Auditing
Favorite topic to teach: Auditing ethics and advanced accounting
Fun fact: He’s lived everywhere across the nation, and he loves to travel the world, particularly Europe.
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