Rice Business’ Back honored with international teaching award

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The Financial Management Association International (FMA) has selected Rice Business professor Kerry Back as the recipient of its Innovation in Teaching Award. The honor recognizes outstanding teaching techniques in finance, emphasizing innovation, broad transferability and measurable impact on students, institutions and the profession.

Back was selected for his work in building an MBA course, Generative AI in Finance, which trains students to apply artificial intelligence and coding to finance.

“I view the role of the course as threefold,” Back said. “I want to show students how to use new tools for financial analysis; to show them the ways in which generative AI is implemented in and impacting the finance industry; and to deepen students’ understanding of core finance and related topics.”

“Kerry Back’s selection underscores the exceptional caliber of our faculty,” said Peter Rodriguez, dean of Rice Business, which includes the Jones Graduate School of Business and the Virani Undergraduate School of Business. “Kerry consistently pushes the boundaries of how we teach finance — making concepts come alive and preparing students for successful careers.”

In addition to a talk regarding the course for which he won the award, Back gave a tutorial lecture to several hundred finance professors from around the world on "Integrating AI Into Teaching."

Back’s award places Rice Business among a select group of institutions recognized for innovation in finance pedagogy. With this latest recognition, Rice Business has now secured the FMA Innovation in Teaching Award twice in the last three years — Back and Kevin Crotty were honored in 2023 for their Learn Investments @ Rice Business, which they created to support courses in introductory finance, applied finance, investments, options and futures, fixed income, portfolio management and data-driven finance.

In addition to the national recognition and cash prize outlined by FMA, Back’s work will be featured in the FMA conference program and accompanying materials, giving visibility not only to the individual instructor but also to his impact in teaching innovation in finance.