Dr. Ivan Rodriguez
Dr. Ivan Rodriguez
Dr. Ivan Rodriguez, assistant professor of finance, joins us from Florida International University in Miami, Florida. He has extensive teaching experience in finance principles, financial management, risk management, commercial bank management and securities analysis. As a researcher, he focuses on international corporate finance, with a concentration on the interaction of sovereign risk and aggregate financial market conditions, cross-border mergers and acquisitions, and the impact of uncertainty on corporate decision making.
“My research helps us understand how uncertainty, at the macro level, affects a firm decision to undertake a new venture, like acquiring a new firm in another country,” Rodriguez says. “Given how globalized the world economy is becoming, understanding these decisions is necessary to understand their social impact.”
Dr. Rodriguez is excited to join the faculty at EMU with the goal to help both the EMU community, business school students and finance majors realize their potential. “The department is working hard to build and strengthen our program, which in turn, can help to strengthen EMU and help the larger Ypsilanti community as a result,” he says. He feels that launching the new Masters of Science in Finance program is evidence of EMU’s high potential and the program will make a large impact to our students, the university, Ypsilanti, the state of Michigan and internationally. “It is an exciting time to be involved with the finance department and seeing us actualize a bit of our large potential.”
When asked what advice he would give to students wanting to major in finance he says students need to cultivate the love of learning through being a voracious reader. “Keeping up to date is extremely important when one is involved with financial markets, and having a historical and social perspective developed by reading is essential to make proper decisions,” Rodriguez says. He also feels in addition to having a well-cultivated sense of perspective, it is essential for finance majors to have a strong mathematics background, given the quantitative nature of the subject.
Coming from Florida, Dr. Rodriguez is excited to experience all four seasons! He thinks the motorists in Michigan are much less aggressive than Florida and welcomes the lack of traffic in comparison to Miami. “I really like how friendly and kind everyone has been. It feels like I have stepped back into a world that I only experienced through old television shows,” he says.
Join us in welcoming Dr. Rodriguez. Please stop by his office to meet him in 422 Hill Hsll and give him a friendly Michigan hello.