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Three newer Leeds faculty members are regularly in the spotlight for their contributions to their fields and achievements in teaching, having come to CU from top PhD programs and world-class business schools. Their inspiring examples underscore three important concepts to students: Think outside the box. Ask tough questions. Take risks.

That鈥檚 how to be innovative, and that鈥檚 how to drive progress.

ETHAN POSKANZER

Assistant Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship
Frank Schiff Faculty Scholar

Ethan Poskanzer explores the nature of ideas with his students, whom he considers great co-workers. He values their feedback and appreciates their intellectual openness.

That鈥檚 the foundation of an entrepreneurial environment, which Poskanzer believes is crucial for societal advancement. 鈥淢y research is motivated by the idea that innovation is our best weapon to solve important social problems.鈥� Innovation, he asserts, boosts the global economy and living standards by addressing issues like disease and climate change.

Developing transformative technologies, however, isn鈥檛 easy, and it takes time. It鈥檚 also prone to failures along the way. That鈥檚 challenging for startups, which often run out of funds. 鈥淲e need to design ways for innovators to explore new possibilities and take 鈥榖ig swings鈥� without having to be profitable immediately,鈥� Poskanzer noted. 鈥淚鈥檓 particularly enthusiastic about the clean technology innovation as a way to address ecological deterioration.鈥�

His work has earned awards and has been published in Organization Science, the American Sociological Review and the American Journal of Sociology, among other leading publications.

Democratizing innovation is a central theme in his research, asking how entrepreneurs can best nurture their ideas and bring them to life. One of Poskanzer鈥檚 current projects examines how gender and luck play a role in whose projects get funded. Another study investigates the effect of entrepreneurship training on careers in Accra, Ghana. 鈥淭here are a ton of entrepreneurship training programs enacted in developing economies, and we know surprisingly little about how they affect participants鈥� careers,鈥� he said.

AMIT BHATTACHARJEE

Associate Professor of Marketing

The more challenging and divisive the issue, the more it interests Amit Bhattacharjee. He鈥檚 drawn to questions and solutions that leaders and policymakers often avoid because they鈥檙e 鈥渢oo unintuitive, taboo or politically inconvenient to be palatable.鈥�

Bhattacharjee studies how morality shapes our understanding of the world. He notes that our moral intuitions evolved in small-scale ancestral societies with no growth or technological progress. Conversely, today鈥檚 modern markets enable rapid wealth creation, trade with strangers everywhere and occupational specialization at a global scale. Yet this fundamental mismatch makes such benefits deeply unintuitive. Whereas economists see most exchanges as mutually beneficial, the public often perceives them as zero-sum, fueling consumer distrust and policy preferences that depart from scientific consensus. Bridging this gap could help unlock markets鈥� potential to foster societal prosperity, he said.

His research often 鈥渃onsiders what might be good about things that are widely regarded as bad and what might be bad about things with widespread public approval.鈥� This unique approach has garnered recognition, including the 2017 Best Article Award from the Journal of Consumer Research and the 2023 Best Paper Award at the La Londe Conference.

Over the last two years, Bhattacharjee taught undergraduate Marketing Research and Analytics, and he will teach graduate-level Market Intelligence this fall. 鈥淭he key thing I want students to take away is that whatever it is they hope to achieve in their careers or in their lives, an aptitude for data-driven thinking can help them do it better.鈥� Both his scholarship and teaching reflect his commitment to understanding the beliefs that limit our ability to harness collective knowledge for the greater good.

NIKKI SKINNER

Assistant Professor of Accounting
Craig and Cynthia Smith Faculty Scholar

As a former Leeds student, Nikki Skinner was no stranger to CU, but when she returned as a professor, everything seemed different. What didn鈥檛 change was the energy on campus. She loves that the community doesn鈥檛 shy away from pressing issues. In her classroom, she鈥檚 fostering exactly the take-charge attitude that the Leeds culture embodies.

In just one semester, Skinner developed three new undergraduate and graduate courses on environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting, a topic that鈥檚 evolving so quickly that Skinner can鈥檛 find textbooks that keep up with the changes.

To tackle the issues, she and her students analyze current events. 鈥淚 encourage students to put themselves in the shoes of managers, regulators and investors to understand why things are changing and how companies are handling ESG reporting in real time,鈥� Skinner said.

One of her current projects examines green patenting, finding that managers are now more likely to discuss green technological investments in corporate disclosures than in the past. Innovation was traditionally 鈥渉ush-hush,鈥� she says, because companies wanted to protect proprietary information.

Skinner鈥檚 research keeps her consistently on the radar. In 2023 alone, she was named the Leeds School of Business Craig and Cynthia Smith Faculty Scholar and received the Kolb, B. Summer Teaching Fellowship and Kahle Family Award for Outstanding Leeds School Publication.

What Skinner enjoys most about teaching is learning from her students. 鈥淓ach of my students offers a unique perspective. Engaging them is what really enriches the classroom.鈥澨�