Two SMU members from the Lee Kong Chian School of Business—Associate Professor Abhijeet K. Vadera and Assistant Professor Christilene du Plessis—are among Poets&Quant magazine’s Top 50 Undergraduate Business School Professors. The award, now in its fifth edition, received more than 500 global nominations from students, alumni, colleagues and deans of 50 business schools, all of whom took the time to highlight what these extraordinary professors mean to themselves, their students, their departments and the business community as a whole.
Associate Professor Vadera was delighted with the award. “I am truly honored and grateful to my students for this recognition. To be honest, I’ve always wanted to be on the Poets&Quants list, but I assumed not many people in Asia knew about it, so I was genuinely surprised and overjoyed to be nominated by my students at SMU! They have put a lot of trust in me as a teacher and this award motivates me to work harder for my students and make their learning experience more enriching and exciting,” he said.
Associate Professor Plessis, who is one of 30 women to be on the list – the most ever honored by P&Q – was equally delighted. “The students at SMU are truly amazing – their enthusiasm for learning and commitment to academic excellence have made teaching them a joy. The positive work environment at SMU, which supports faculty and encourages collaboration among faculty members, played a key role in two of our faculty being recognized on this year’s Poets & Quants Top 50 Undergraduate Business Professors list. I am truly grateful to be a part of such a dynamic and supportive community,” she said.
This year’s list features 50 winners coming from 39 different schools, including 8 schools that had two professors on the list – SMU’s Lee Kong Chian School of Business being one of them.
On its judging methodology, P&Q said: “The Poets&Quants editorial team assessed each nomination individually. Each professor received a score from 1 to 10 based on their research and teaching accomplishments. Research was given a weightage of 30% and teaching a weightage of 70%, with the average making up the final score. For the research, P&Q took into account the volume of professors’ citations on Google Scholar, how much media attention they received along with research and writing awards. In terms of teaching, we considered all the nominations, teaching awards and impact on their schools and departments.”
Read how Associate Professor Vadera and Assistant Professor Plessis became business professors, who inspired them and what keeps them busy at school and in their free time:
- Abhijeet K. Vadera Associate Professor – here.
- Assistant Professor Christilene du Plessis – here.
Our sincere congratulations to Abhijeet and Christilene!