Pence, Zak Cited in Barron’s and NYT; Wartzman, Adams in Fortune and Chronicle
Top Ten
Earlier this month, in Barron’s announcement (featured in a Wall Street Journal supplement) of its annual “Top 100 Women Financial Advisors,” Claremont Graduate University Trustee Laila Pence not only made the list, but is also ranked in the top 10.
“Overall, the women on this year’s list have a wealth of experience,” the Barron’s report explains. For this leading financial magazine, ranking criteria reflects “assets under management, revenues the advisors generate for their firms, and the quality of their practices.”
Pence, who is president and co-founder of Newport Beach-based Pence Wealth Management, also ranked in the top 10 last year. A nationally recognized financial planner, Pence joined CGU’s Board of Trustees last fall. Her election marked her first trusteeship at the graduate education level.
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Testosterone Troubles
How much do hormones affect decision-making? A great deal, reports a New York Times article on the impact of testosterone levels on judgment and risk-taking. The article looks at the connection between overconfidence and hormone levels; in particular, that men’s “hubris could be tied to testosterone levels.”
The article also highlights the research of CGU alumnus Amos Nadler (PhD, Economics, 2013) and other neuroeconomists, including his mentor Professor Paul Zak, in examining the behavior of stock traders and how testosterone levels affected their financial decisions in a simulation of the stock market. The result? Not good.
“Men with boosted testosterone levels significantly overpriced assets … and … were slower to incorporate data about falling values into their trading decisions,” the article continues. Zak, who directs CGU’s Center for Neuroeconomics Studies, was thrilled to see coverage of his former student, whose intriguing research he proudly says “was done in my lab.”
Visit the Center’s web page to learn more about Zak’s work.
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A Clash of Cultures
How will Whole Foods employees be affected by Amazon’s acquisition of their company? The Drucker Institute’s Rick Wartzman writes in Fortune that they should be concerned about how Amazon’s relentless ethos may change their company’s culture in a detrimental way. Many people, he writes, “have been wondering whether robots will supplant many of the grocery chain’s 87,000 workers. The way I see it, though, Whole Foods employees should be worrying just as much about the impact of their fellow human beings from Amazon.”
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The Road to Assistant Professor
Who will be successful at getting tenure-track professorships? CGU Interim President and Professor of Education Jacob Adams recently talked to the Chronicle of Higher Education for its “Daily Briefing” newsletter. Here’s what the Chronicle reported about that conversation:
“The president of Claremont Graduate University, Jacob Adams, shared an interesting thought about academic hiring during a visit last week to The Chronicle’s offices. As the academic job market for new PhDs remains challenging, he said, tenure-track jobs will increasingly go to well-networked students.”