Rundown

Welcoming New Faculty

This summer, Rice Business welcomed two new tenure-track faculty members.

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Yelin Hu, Assistant Professor of Accounting
Hu received her Ph.D. in business administration (accounting) from the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business this past spring, where she instructed financial accounting courses. Hu focuses on theory-driven empirical research in accounting, examining how regulatory policies, organizational characteristics and firm behavior inform regulatory effectiveness and capital market outcomes.

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Shannon Sciarappa, Assistant Professor of Management – Organizational Behavior
Sciarappa joins Rice Business from Boston College’s Carroll School of Management, where she taught core management courses and completed her Ph.D. in organization studies. Sciarappa’s research uses qualitative methods to explore how individuals navigate and reshape their identities, views of work, and relationships in response to significant organizational or work-related events. This research primarily draws from theories of meaningful work and identity. 

In addition, several current faculty members assumed new academic and administrative leadership responsibilities, including Brian Rountree and Jefferson Duarte, who were both promoted to full professor. In addition, Nell Putnam-Farr was named assistant dean for academic programs, and Jon Miles has been promoted to associate clinical professor – organizational behavior. 

Celebrating Our Faculty

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Yael Hochberg, the Ralph S. O’Connor Professor in Entrepreneurship – Finance, received a University Innovator Award at the 2026 Texas Innovation Awards held in Fort Worth, Texas. As head of Rice’s Entrepreneurship Initiative and the Liu Idea Lab for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Hochberg embodies Rice Business’ leadership across innovation and entrepreneurship.

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Diana Jue-Rajasingh, assistant professor of strategic management, was named to Poets& Quants’ list of “2026 Best 40-Under-40 Graduate Business Professors” in recognition of her high-level research, interactive classroom experience and mentorship.

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Eduardo Salas and Daan van Knippenberg were ranked first and second, respectively, in a list of the “Top 20 Most Influential Authors in Team Effectiveness Between 1992 and 2022” by a comprehensive international review published in Small Group Research.

Faculty Awards

At the end of each school year, students from across programs recognize faculty for their educational impact.

Congratulations to the following faculty who received awards for their teaching excellence and groundbreaking research this spring.

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5 Rankings in the Top 10
Rice Business earned five top-10 rankings in The Princeton Review’s 2027 business school rankings.

• #9 Best Campus Environment
• #8 Best MBA for Consulting
• #7 Best MBA for Finance
• #6 Greatest Resources for Minority Students
• #6 Best Online MBA Program

See All Rice Business Rankings

News and Events

Alumni Reunion Weekend
The 2026 Alumni Reunion was full of networking, reconnecting and reminiscing, featuring a Lunch & Learn, Last Lecture, Alumni Awards, Partio and more. The following awards, established by the Rice Business Alumni Association, honor members of the community who embody the four pillars of alumni engagement: community, philanthropy, volunteering and lifelong learning.

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Congratulations to our 2026 Alumni Award Winners:

• Kenzel Fallen ’12
  Distinguished Alumni Award
• Javier Simons ’25
  Rising Star Award
• Robert Lesnick ’00
  Outstanding Volunteer Award
   

Dean’s Distinguished Visiting Fellows
In April, the community welcomed two visiting faculty members to campus. James B. Wade, the Avram S. Tucker Endowed Professor of Strategy & Leadership at George Washington University, gave a seminar on “Adapting in the Shadow of Scandal: Reputational Management Strategies Among Perpetrator Coauthors in a High-Profile Academic Scandal”; and Katherine DeCelles, professor of organizational behavior and human resource management at the University of Toronto, spoke on “Coded Language in Job Advertisements.”

MBA@Rice Early Career Track Launch
The online MBA@Rice now offers an Early Career Track admissions pathway for early career professionals with fewer than three years of work experience. It will provide students with a strong foundation in their first year before they fully integrate into the broader MBA@Rice community in their second year. The first cohort started this fall.

Service to School Partnership
Rice Business launched a partnership with Service to School (S2S), a national nonprofit helping veterans and service members access higher education through free application counseling, mentorship and peer-to-peer support. S2S will help bolster support for military-affiliated students alongside existing networks like the Rice Business Veterans Association and Veterans Business Battle.

Commencement and Student Awards

In May, hundreds of Rice Business graduates crossed the stage, representing not only different programs, but vastly different experiences, industries and aspirations. Join us in welcoming each of our MBA, MAcc, doctoral and undergraduate students to the ranks of alumni.

This year’s honorees include MBA recipients of the M.A. Wright Award and Jones Scholar Award, as well as recipients of the Outstanding Student Award and Student Impact Award from the Virani Undergraduate School of Business. Visit our online magazine to view the full list of 2026 student award recipients.