Bidding Farewell to Two Retiring Faculty Members

May 30, 2019

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As the College said goodbye to the graduate and undergraduate classes of 2019, it also bid farewell to two retiring faculty members: Professors Diana Harrington and Ross Petty.

Petty and Harrington have been influencing the lives of students and colleagues on campus for a combined 57 years.

“Babson College is as strong as it is today because of the dedicated faculty like Professors Petty and Harrington,” said Dean of Faculty Ken Matsuno during Centennial Commencement ceremonies. “We are grateful for their contribution to Babson College over so many years.”

Diana Harrington

Diana Harrington is Babson Distinguished Professor of Finance and has written and taught extensively about long-term investments, and the uses of beta. Harrington has written more than 30 cases and several books, including Corporate Financial Analysis in a Global Environment, which is in its seventh edition; Case Studies in Financial Decision Making; The New Stock Market; and Modern Portfolio Theory: the Capital Asset Pricing Model and Arbitrage Pricing Theory: A User’s Guide. She also serves as a trustee on the boards of mutual funds.

“During her 26 years at Babson, Professor Harrington has provided insights and guidance to students inside and outside of the classroom and has helped many students on their paths to careers in finance,” said Matsuno. “She is an accomplished author, an advocate for women in finance, and has brought practitioners and academics together.”

“She is not afraid to challenge assumptions and conventional wisdom in finance theory,” added Finance Division Chair Ryan Davies.

Ross Petty

Ross Petty has been at Babson for more than 30 years and serves as professor and faculty research scholar in the Accounting and Law Division, specializing in business law and marketing.

“Petty is a prolific and eclectic scholar who has published more than 100 articles and book chapters,” said Matsuno. An award-winning scholar, Petty also has been a prolific author in the American Marketing Association’s Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, the leading journal in its specialty area, and has published some 14 marketing law and policy-related articles in other business, marketing, and advertising journals.

According to Matsuno, Petty has been a selfless contributor to Babson, having co-written articles with a variety of Babson colleagues and having served on several major College-wide committees. He has taught more than 1,600 undergraduates and nearly 4,000 MBA students. Petty has developed and taught electives in advertising law; branding law; innovation and the law; intellectual property law and strategy; and technology law, and in 2008 received the Academy of Legal Studies in Business Master Teacher Award.

Babson professors are more than just educators; they also are entrepreneurs, lawyers, artists, and engineers. They are experts in their fields, with a finger on the pulse of the industries and career opportunities Babson students care about. As we celebrate our retiring faculty, please consider making a gift in their honor.

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