Paul Swanson

Teaching Interest
To me, teaching is a never ending learning experience. I always try to continue to improve my performance on both the student evaluations and on the attained level of knowledge of the students as reflected in examinations. After returning to UC from teaching at Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland for two years, my teaching ratings from the Investment class in the Fall Quarter were disappointing but not actually a surprise. The return to the lecture format from that of the tutorial was more of a challenge than I had anticipated. I was pleased that I received higher ratings (5 or better) concerning the management of the course but it was obvious from the evaluations that the students were not pleased with my lecture format. This is a work-in-process and will be seriously restructured during the coming year. On the other hand, I was very pleased with the results of the Case course. This course has never been easy for me but I completely enjoy teaching it. I tend to spend a great amount of effort in its presentation. I believe that I have found the beginning of an approach to case studies that helps to lead the student towards the essence of the case. As usual, even the case approach is a work-in-process.

Research Interest
My research interests follow two distinct paths. First, I have always been interested in the fractal nature of stock and other financial market prices. At Trinity, I came to realize that the old approach of applying standard tests from Physics, did not generally add significantly to the ability to forecast these data. This meant that I must start over and go back to the beginning off my research efforts. I have returned to the study of fractals as a subset of set theory. I hope that by returning to the only workable description of these series that I can gain greater insight into the nature of the dynamics of the time series.

Secondly, My academic study of cognitive psychology began in 1974 while a Visiting Associate Professor in the Department of Psychological Studies, Purdue University. Although my major interest at the time was psychometrics and multidimensional scaling, I was introduced to the fields of Attribution and Behavior which have since become major research interests for me. I am pursuing questions of the healing power of Buddhist philosophy as they relate to interpersonal behavior in financial markets.

While at Trinity I was introduced to the subject of ‘mindfulness’ as a behavioral model for healing deep depression. .It is a behavioral model based upon the practice and philosophy of Buddhism. The study of the practice, as distinct from the philosophy, has become to be known as “mindfulness’. The distinction between practice and philosophy is only one of relative importance since both the practice and the philosophy are reflexive. After my return from Trinity, I have spent considerable time and effort to gaining entrance into the research of mindfulness in the United States. A new avenue of research lies in the usage of Mindfulness in the field of management. This protocal can not only be used as a way to limit stress and depression, but it fits equally well as a way to clear the minds of executive members of a firm so that they can proceed with each member on the same page.

History
Institution: Centre for Industrial Economic and Business Research, University of Warwick
Title: Visiting Research Fellow

Institution: Centre for Management Studies, Oxford University, Oxford, England
Title: Visiting Fellow

Institution: Columbia Gas System Service Corporation, Wilmington, Delaware
Title: Professor-in-Residence

Institution: Department of Economics, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii
Title: Visiting Lecturer

Institution: Department of Economics, Yale University
Title: Vice President for Compustat

Institution:  Department of Economics, Yale University
Title: Visiting Professor

Institution: Department of Finance, University of Cincinnati
Title: Associate Professor

Institution: Department of Psychological Sciences, Purdue University
Title: Visiting Associate Professor

Institution: Economic Growth Center, Department of Economics, Yale University
Title: Visiting Lecturer

Institution: Faculty of Economics and Administrative Science, University of Jordan, Amman
Title: Visiting Professor

Institution: Graduate School of Business, Area of Statistics, University of Chicago
Title: Visiting Scholar

Institution: School of Business Studies, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland
Title: Visiting Professor

Institution: University Graduate Faculty, University of Cincinnati
Title: Member

Institution: School of Business Studies, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland
Title: Visiting Professor
End Date: 2005-08-31

Institution: University of Illinois
Title: Graduate Research Assistant to the Office of the Provost
End Date: 1965-12-31

Institution: Department of Finance, University of Illinois
Title: Graduate Teaching Assistant
End Date: 1965-12-31

Awards | Honors
Organization: College of Evening and Continuing Education
Name: Outstanding Service Award

Organization: Faculty Scholastic, University of Cincinnati
Name: Beta Gamma Sigma
Year Received: 1980

Organization: Graduate Scholastic in Operations Research
Name: Alpha Iota Delta
Year Received: 1972

Organization: Graduate Scholastic, University of Illinois
Name: Phi Kappa Phi
Year Received: 1964

Organization: Economic Scholastic, University of Illinois
Name: Omicron Delta Gamma
Year Received: 1961

Education
Institution: University of Illinois
Major: Finance
Dissertation: Programmed Budgeting (Mathematical Programming) for a College of Business Administration
Completed: 1966
Degree: Ph D

Institution: University of Illinois
Major: Finance
Completed: 1962
Degree: MS

Institution: University of Illinois
Major: Economics & Finance
Completed: 1960
Degree: BS

Institution: University of Illinois
Major: Accountancy
Completed: 1959
Degree: BS

Research in progress
Title: Behavioral and Cognitive Methods in Financial Practice
Description: My academic study of cognitive psychology began in 1974 while a Visiting Associate Professor in the Department of Psychological Studies, Purdue University. Although my major interest at the time was psychometrics and multidimensional scaling, I was introduced to the fields of Attribution and Behavior which have since become major research interests for me. I am currently pursuing questions of the healing power of Buddhist philosophy as they relate to interpersonal behavior in financial markets.
Status: On-Going
Research Type: Scholarly

Title: Distance Learning
Description: In my opinion, this Department must get ready to offer its primary courses on the Web. Web-based teaching is now upon us. I tried to get started in DL in 2002. I video taped a set of Business Finance II (FIN352) and International Finance (INTB464) lectures in 2002-3 academic year which weere then placed onthe UC web for my classes to review as they needed. The video taping was done under the auspices of the Distance Learning and Telecommunication Group, College of Busines. These tapes were viewed until the beginning of my Sabatical and Professional leaves (2003-2005. This area needs to be reopened with funding that will allow experimenting in a class room setting.
Status: On-Going
Research Type: Scholarly

Title: Dynamic Financial Markets in a Fractal World
Description: I have always been interested in the fractal nature of stock and other finanical market prices. I recently came to realize that the old approach of applying standard tests from Physics, did not generally add significantly to the ability to forecast these data. This meant that I must start over and go back to the beginning of my research efforts. I hopethat by returning to the onlyworkable description of these series that I can gain greater insight into the nature of the dynamics of the time series
Status: On-Going
Research Type: Scholarly

Title: Stress Reduction as a Specific Action of the Brain
Description: While as a Visiting Professor at Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland, I was introduced to the subject of 'Mindfulness". Based upon the practice and philosophy of Buddhism, Mindfulness is a powerful procedure for stress reduction and has already been into the field of Management. Its uses in Finance are quite interesting and I believe have significant contributions to the behavioral study of financial markets.
Status: On-Going
Research Type: Scholarly

Presentations
Organization: Special Sessions Program, Behavioral Finance Mini-Conference
Location: Minnesota