Professors prepare for retirement
James Haltiner and Phil Shane, two long-serving faculty members at William & Mary’s Raymond A. Mason School of Business plan to retire at the end of the academic year.
Shane, the KPMG Professor of Accounting, spent his career focused on teaching, research, and service. Before coming to William & Mary, he held faculty positions at Pennsylvania State University as well as at the Universities of Kansas, Montana, Arizona, Colorado, Auckland and Virginia. He taught and conducted research in financial accounting and reporting, co-authoring papers with researchers and thought leaders worldwide. He even spent three weeks of every year mentoring faculty and presenting research at Monash University in Australia.
At William & Mary, Shane spent the past five years working as the Accounting Department chair at the Mason School, occasionally teaching courses while continuing to publish in academic journals. He attributes his career success to the network he built from traveling so much. He encourages William & Mary students to be flexible and willing to move around to advance in their careers.
Following his retirement, Shane plans to stay connected to William & Mary as well as to continue research in his areas of interest. He will miss most the daily interactions with students and colleagues, he said.
“My motivations in my work are very relationship-driven,” he said. “It feeds my soul to have heart-to-heart connections with the people I work with and mentor, and I’ve found that my job facilitates those kinds of interactions.”
Accounting student Lexi Godfrey said, “Professor Shane was an intelligent, collected professor who made accounting not so bad for 8 a.m.! His leadership will be missed at the Mason School.”
Haltiner has worked at the Mason School since 1976, serving twice as the Director of the MBA program and once as adviser for the Batten Fund. As co-director of the Boehly Center, he has been involved with the Mason School finance department, teaching core financial management classes in the Flex MBA Program and the Executive MPA Program as well as investment/portfolio electives in the BBA Program.
In 2004, he was named the Frank Batten Professor for Distinguished MBA Teaching, and in 2007 he was named Chancellor Professor of Business. He was also awarded the Dungan Teaching Fellowship Award in 2012 for innovations and excellence in the undergraduate program.
“Teaching is a satisfying profession in that you get to participate in the development of young people, see them grow and become successful,” Haltiner said. “I believe the ultimate role of academics is to help students. They are the ones that really matter.”
Over the years, Haltiner has invited many former students back to the Mason School to speak in classrooms and at events.
“I’ve always thought it was important for students to see the people that came before them, see what they do, and learn from them,” he said.
Student Daniel Herrera, president of the Student Investment Club, said, “Professor Haltiner is the reason the Mason Investment Club, as well as the Student Management Investment Fund, exist at all. These additions to the Mason experience have been invaluable to many of us in our community. Haltiner has dedicated his career to mentoring his students and connecting them to great careers.”
Connor Matuszewski, a former student, said, “Professor Haltiner has had an extraordinary impact on the development of William and Mary’s finance program. His leadership will be greatly missed.”
Following his retirement, Haltiner plans to continue to serve as Co-director of the Boehly Center while being able to spend more time pursuing his interests in travel, recreation and spending time with his six grandchildren. He also said that what he will miss most is the daily interaction with students, colleagues and the Mason School staff, but is grateful to be able to continue to serve in an important capacity.
“It is because of all these people that I’ve had such a fulfilling and successful career,” he said.
The Mason School recognized both distinguished professors during a reception this past month where colleagues were able to celebrate their retirements and congratulate them on their professional achievements.
