Those who know associate professor of finance Dr. David Shrider will not be surprised to learn that he was surprised to learn that he had been named the 2020 Miami University Associated Student Government Outstanding Professor on Wednesday. “I was really surprised, really honored. I think you're always honored to win a teaching award and then it’s even a bigger honor to win a teaching award when it's nominated by students,” he remarked.

“Despite freely sharing his time and talents with his students -- for example, volunteering his entire weekend to travel to Boston with my team and me for the final round of the Global Case Competition at Harvard -- Dr. Shrider never asks for praise or acclaim,” senior finance major Joe Braun said.

Braun, who nominated Shrider for the award, said that Shrider has been “an incredible mentor and friend to me during my time at Miami,” and that “to see Dr. Shrider finally get the recognition he deserves is heartwarming and I hope it serves to validate the years of effort he has put into furthering the futures of countless students like myself as well as the Farmer School of Business as a whole.”

Shrider has been at the Farmer School since 2004 and currently is director of Global Business Initiatives. He said that being around students like Braun is why he’s here. “I love working with them. I enjoy spending time with them. Most of all, I enjoy watching them learn and watching them grow, turning from what they were when they came to Miami to what they are by the time they leave,” he said.  “Just watching that transformation is pretty amazing. I love to be a small part of that any way that I can.”

When asked what advice he would give to new professors, Shrider said that initially, the recommendation he would give would be to get to know the students. “I think particularly at Miami, where we really pride ourselves in getting to know our students, working with them closely in the classroom and out of the classroom,” he explained. “Understand what makes them tick, what they're interested in. I think when you do that, it's easier for you to teach them because you care, you’re more interested, you're more involved, and you want them to do well. That doesn't always mean that the grades are going to come out the way they want -- there's going to be students that fail. But I think the more you get to know them, the easier it is for everybody and the quality of the education is better.”

Entrepreneurship professor Jim Friedman and information systems and analytics professor Carol McGuire were among ten faculty members university-wide who were named as honorable mentions for the award.