Business Professor to Speak at Last Lecture Series

Commentary Editor

Photo by Latoya Shelton

The Classroom - Robert Graber, associate professor of Finance, teaches students in his Principles of  Finance class. Graber will speak at the Journalism Club's Last Lecture Series  in the Memorial Classroom Building Auditorium April 7 at 7 p.m.

   The Journalism Club selected Robert Graber, associate professor of Finance as the sixth speaker for the Last Lecture Series April 7 in the Memorial Classroom Building Auditorium at 7 p.m.

   Graber teaches Economics, Finance, Investments, Management and Insurance. He said he enjoys teaching all of his classes, but his favorite is Principles of Finance.

   “(Principles of Finance) gives me the opportunity to introduce financial thinking and problem solving to people who have not had the previous experience in that area, ” Graber said.

   He uses his previous work experience to provide real life examples of financial decision-making and adds them to academic discussion. In the classroom, he brings the knowledge of and enthusiasm for the subject matter, the desire to teach and high expectations for students. He said his previous work experience might also affect the requirements he provides in class, such as assignments being turned in on time and requiring class participation.

   Graber said at LLS, he might talk about encouraging students to think and persevere and that he gears all of his classes and activities to help make students successful.

   “I would like to encourage students to have the skills and attitude and self-confidences that will make them more successful in their future life,” Graber said. “I try to encourage students to participate actively in class and work up to their potential.”

   Graber described one of his most gratifying experiences as hearing from former students who are using what they learned in school and are now very successful.

   The focus of getting students to think and learn guides Graber’s activities in the Chess Club and the Financial Management Association, as well as in the classroom. Graber sponsors the FMA and Chess Club. In general, he enjoys concerts, plays, athletic events and other university activities.

   Outside of the classroom and university events, he enjoys spending time and taking long walks with his dogs Sadie, who is part Dalmatian and part collie and Natalie, a rat terrier. He found Natalie and Sadie as strays. He also enjoys reading, playing chess, like trivia and traveling. He recently traveled to Alaska and has traveled to the Caribbean, the Ozarks and on other small trips.

   When he gets the chance, he volunteers at the Pets Are Worth Saving shelter in Monticello and donates money, dog food and treats.

   Graber graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1975. He worked at various finance jobs including the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Louisiana Power and Light Company, before going back to school.

    He attended the University of New Orleans and worked to earn his master’s degree, master’s of business administration degree and his doctorate from 1993-1997. For his doctoral visit in 1997, he taught for a year at Minnesota State University at Moorhead in Moorhead, Minn. and at the University of Houston in Clear Lake, Texas.

   He taught at The American College at Bryn Mawr, Pa. from 1998-2002. During that time, he wrote a textbook on investments called “Fundamentals of Investments for Financial Planning.” He started teaching at the University of Arkansas at Monticello in 2002.

  The Last Lecture Series allows professors the chance to give a lecture as if it were their last lecture of their academic life.

   Past Last Lecture Series speakers include:

• Provost David Ray
• Betty Matthews, professor of English
• Morris Bramlett, dean of Math and Sciences
• Larry Smith, professor of History and
  
• Alvy Early, athletic director and softball coach.

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