Q: Congratulation! How does it feel to be so appreciated as a teacher?

A: It feels great. I care a lot about teaching and, thus, it’s great to find out that students appreciate it.

Q: What makes you a successful teacher?

A: This is a difficult question to answer. Personally, I care most about three things in my teaching. First, I try very hard to select concepts that are academically sound and accepted but, at the same time, useful and reasonable from a practical point of view. Second, I aim for being very transparent and clear, from the start of each course, about its structure, goals, and, most importantly, things required from the students. Third, I enjoy teaching a lot and, in particular, the interaction with students. Thus, I try to be available as much as possible to solve problems and discuss issues during the course. Students should always feel that they can ask any question in and outside of class.

 

 About Michael 

Michael is Associate Professor of Finance at the Stockholm School of Economics and a Research Fellow at the Swedish House of Finance. He teaches Quantitative Methods in Corporate Finance and Risk Management to Master students in Finance at SSE and is also Head of the Finance Specialization in the Bachelor Program at SSE. He received his PhD in finance from the University of Vienna in December of 2006.

Research

Michael’s research interests focus on empirical asset pricing. For example, he studies the predictability of returns or analyzes explanations, such as jump risk, for differences in average returns across individual firms. In addition, he is also interested in asset management and capital structure choices of firms.

Hobbies

Nowadays Michael’s activities center on playing with his two young sons. In general, Michael’s hobbies are linked to sports. Not surprisingly, given Michael’s origins, skiing is his favorite activity.

Last book read

A crime novel by Wolf Haas (in German).

Why students voted for Michael

“Because he is very good in his field, makes lectures interesting and, most importantly, will answer all the questions, even at 1 a.m.”

“Michael Halling is an awesome teacher! Not only is he a master of the subject, but he is a nice person as well. He has excellent skills in explaining studying material and keeping students' interest.”

“Teacher very engaged and responsive to questions.”

“Excellent teaching method and extremely helpful regarding any questions. By far the best teacher I have had during my degree.”

“His course is well structured, and he can explain the key components of Risk Management very well”