Manhattan University’s O’Malley School of Business announced the exciting news of Topyan and
Wang on social media.
@OMALLEYBUSINESS_MU / INSTAGRAM
By Julia Ciampa, Staff Writer
On Sept. 1, Manhattan University’s professors of finance Kudret Topyan, Ph.D., and Chia-Jane Wang, Ph.D., were appointed as guest academic editors for The Journal of Risk and Financial Management, a renowned finance journal.
Both professor’s expertise within the field of finance, specifically credit markets, pushed the journal founders to invite them to become guest academic editors for the new edition. This will be Topyan’s second year as a guest academic editor for the journal.
“I would not be able to do it alone and asked Dr. Wang’s help since she is an excellent researcher and more experienced on the topic,” Topyan said.
Both professors were appointed as academic editors for a special issue titled “Credit Markets and Credit Risk Management” because they were active participants in the finance world as reviewers and publishers on the topic.
Upon invitation, Wang was thrilled about this new opportunity at hand and was excited to contribute her financial literacy skills and expertise to the journal’s newest edition.
“You can probably recall that last year, there were several bankruptcies across the world,” Wang said. “So when we started this special issue and the managing editor initially proposed a broader idea about risk management within credit risk and credit risk management, we thought it was vital to write about it. In the post-COVID environment we are in, and the trend of rising inflation, several bank collapses, and sovereign debt crises, we thought that this topic would be an important issue to cover, relevant to the financial situation we are in today.”
Topyan agrees that the relevance of this article should be considered vital to educate one another on, especially in the current economy. As professors in the O’Malley School, both hope that students will view this news as a beneficial contribution to their education and will spark conversations around the article’s context.
“I hope that others can appreciate the quality of the authors of this paper,” Topyan said. “I think a high-quality academic journal like ours serves as a platform to allow scholars to communicate their latest research while shaping the future direction of new knowledge development. I hope that it can serve as a key resource for scholars, peers, and even industry professionals.”
Additionally, Topyan stressed the importance of peer review work.
“At least two, maybe three, external reviewers who are the experts in the field will read the paper and write the feedback and provide suggestions for movement or rejections,” Topyan said.
As both balance their responsibilities of being professors as well as guest academic editors for the journal, Wang believes that this opportunity will only enhance her teaching skills. She states that the levels of her student’s exposure to real-life financial research, predictions and findings will broaden their knowledge of financial affairs.
“That entire process as an academic editor is integrated into our academic life with the students, our life within the research role, and our entire life as a teacher,” Wang said. “Through what I have learned from another professor of finance, Professor Altman from NYU, I have been using it in my own teaching plans.”
Word of the professors’ accomplishment spread throughout the university, creating excitement among the students of the O’Malley School of Business. Nick Howell, a senior finance major at Manhattan University, was unsurprised when he first heard about the appointment.
“I wasn’t surprised to learn that two of Manhattan University’s professors have been named guest academic editors,” Howell said. “The AACSB accreditation awarded to the O’Malley School of Business is a strong endorsement of the quality education we have, and our faculty plays a pivotal role in maintaining that standard.”