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Three Marshall Professors Named to Poets & Quants 50 Best Undergraduate Professors of 2024 List

Three Marshall Professors Named to Poets & Quants 50 Best Undergraduate Professors of 2024 List

Marshall leads the list with Charlie Hannigan, Smrity Randhawa, and Stephanie Tully recognized for their teaching and research excellence.

by: Sabrina Skacan
12.03.24
Charlie Hannigan, Smrity Randhawa, and Stephanie Tully (L-R)

(L-R) Charlie Hannigan, Smrity Randhawa, and Stephanie Tully named to Poet & Quants 50 Best Undergraduate Professors of 2024.
[USC Photo]

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Charlie Hannigan, Smrity Randhawa, and Stephanie Tully received special recognition: Poets & Quants’ 50 Best Undergraduate Professors of 2024. The seventh edition of the annual list was announced on December 2, 2024.

According to the announcement, “University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business has the most professors on the list at three, each a standout in their fields of statistics and operations management; accounting; and marketing.”

The Marshall professors were selected from more than 1,000 nominations received. Poets & Quants’ open submission period encourages students, alumni, colleagues, and school deans to attest to the impact these professors have in the classroom, within their departments, and to the business community at large. The honorees were scored on their research (volume of a professor’s Google Scholar citations, media attention, research and writing awards, industry contributions) and for teaching (teaching awards and influence on their schools and departments).

Charlie Hannigan, Assistant Professor of Clinical Data Sciences and Operations
At 30 years old, Hannigan was one of the youngest awardees. He also received the most nominations on this year’s list with 109 submissions.

“I don’t know everyone who nominated me, but thank you to the [students] that told me,” Hannigan said. “Y’all make me want to keep teaching for a long, long time.”

Earlier this year, Hannigan also received Marshall’s Golden Apple Award, which is voted on by undergraduate students, for his applied business statistics and operations management courses. Known for his high energy in the classroom and empathy for his students, Hannigan is conscious that math “tends to freak people out.” His teaching style — which seeks to deepen their understanding of concepts while recognizing their well-being — stands out among the students.

“Professor Hannigan is absolutely everything you need in a professor. Every morning he came in with high energy and made each individual student feel heard and welcomed. Not only did he show he cared about his students, but he also taught in an amazing way,” said Marshall student Andrew Akhverdyan in his nomination letter. “He took a rigorous subject like statistics and made it fun to learn. I am proud of the amount I learned in that class, and I know it wouldn’t have been possible without Professor Hannigan.”

The assistant professor believes in “using clever math” in his research, applying machine learning and structural estimation models to jail and judiciary systems to increase efficiency and reduce injustice. His research has found that defendants may be incentivized to intentionally delay their case, resulting in excess years in jail. Using structural estimation methods to measure these incentives, Hannigan hopes his findings may be able to change the incentive system.

Smrity Randhawa, Patrick Grismer Teaching Chair in Accounting
It’s been a banner year for the professor of clinical accounting whose command of and dedication to the discipline has earned her multiple honors. As a professor and former associate dean for the Leventhal School of Accounting’s undergraduate programs, Randhawa was named Marshall’s inaugural Patrick Grismer Teaching Chair in Accounting and also appointed to USC’s University Committee on Curriculum (UCOC).

Among all of her faculty and administrative duties, it’s teaching that holds a special place for Randhawa, who has received several teaching awards during her time at USC Marshall. Being named to Poets & Quants 50 Best is just another example of her skills as an instructor, one who finds it “extremely fulfilling” to watch introductory accounting students learn to read and understand annual reports and financial statements.

“It is truly gratifying to be recognized for my love of teaching,” Randhawa said. “I am grateful to the amazing students and incredibly supportive colleagues who made this honor possible.”

Randhawa knew she wanted to be a business professor when she took an accounting course as an undergrad herself. Believing “accounting is the language of business,” she connects with her students to help them grasp the concepts of the field but also to help them understand their challenges in order to support their success in the classroom and beyond.

“I remember failing my first quiz and being so distraught. I studied so hard, went to every office hour, did every piece of extra material, and still didn’t perform as high as I wished,” remarked Marshall student Hana Doss-Wassily in her nomination letter. “Professor [Randhawa] sat me down and helped me come to the conclusion that I may have testing anxiety and getting extra time on exams would be beneficial. Because of her passion for helping her students, I was able to excel in the next midterm and final and finish the class with an A-.”

Beyond academia, Randhawa is also sought out for her expertise, providing consulting services related to bankruptcy analysis, fair value accounting measurements and valuations, and damage analysis.

Stephanie M. Tully, Associate Professor of Marketing
Playing professor when she was in elementary school, Tully understands an individual has to be engaged and actively participating to facilitate the learning process. When organizing her marketing classes, she ensures her coursework will “connect classroom concepts to real-world business challenges” through activities such as simulations, case studies, exercises, and discussions, as well as coordinating working collaborations with local companies on a student’s final project.

“I’m honored to receive this award. Teaching a class like Consumer Behavior in the interactive way I do is only successful when students show up ready to engage, question, and share their perspectives,” Tully said. “So this award is really a reflection of the fantastic students I have had at USC in recent years.”

A visiting scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s Consumer Finance Institute, Tully is an expert in consumer behavior, with a particular focus on the impact of consumers’ resources of money, time, and technology. Currently, her research explores the importance of psychological ownership in financial decisions. She’s learned that people may be more inclined to use lines of credit compared to bank loans (even though interest rates on lines of credit are typically higher) because they feel the source of money is “theirs.” These feelings play a larger role in people’s willingness to borrow money than structural factors like interest rates.

That real-world insight underscores the lessons Tully imparts as a teacher. She wants to help students see that “learning, rather than grades or graduation, is the real goal of their education.” While relying on AI may be tempting to complete assignments, Tully emphasizes some shortcuts undermine the value of their college experience.

“Professor Tully demonstrates an extraordinary commitment to the growth of her students, which I find deeply admirable,” wrote Marshall student Tori Feinstein in her nomination letter. “One particularly impactful element of her teaching was her integration of real-world executives from diverse industries into our class, accompanied by career assignments that encouraged us to explore our future goals beyond the scope of the course. It is clear that her goal as a professor is not just to prepare her students for exams but to ensure that we truly learn for life.”

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