Randolph professor earns 'Best Paper' award at Financial Education Association & Academy of Business Education Conference

Randolph economics and business professor Jeffery Heinfeldt (right) shakes hands with Timothy Michael, executive director of the Financial Education Association.

Economics and business professor Jeffery Heinfeldt received the Best Paper Award in the Pedagogy Category at the recent Financial Education Association & Academy of Business Education Conference in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

He co-authored the award-winning paper, “Inventory Methods, Inflation, and Phantom Profits: Liquidity Issues and Pedagogical Opportunities,” with Fran Wolf, a professor at Youngstown State University. The paper was inspired by a test question that students struggled with related to inventory methods and financial impact on a business firm. Heinfeldt and Wolf developed an exercise/illustration to help clarify and reinforce the material for students.

“The ultimate hope was that student comprehension and performance would improve,” Heinfeldt said. “Our analysis showed a considerable improvement in student performance on that material as reflected by their exam results after incorporating the illustration.

“I was honored and flattered to receive the award,” he added. “It’s always nice to have your work recognized by your colleagues and peers. This was particularly meaningful since the project is associated with assisting students in the classroom.”

Heinfeldt will be on sabbatical for the spring 2017 semester, and plans to conduct research on the stakeholder theory. He intends to find illustrations of the stakeholder theory in films, and evaluate how he might apply those examples to course material in the classroom.