Annette Poulsen has received just about every honor and award a finance professor can be given at the University of Georgia. She is one of only two Terry professors to have won the college’s Outstanding Faculty Awards for all three academic missions – teaching, research, and service.
But one of the most spine-tingling recognitions she has received came Oct. 14 between the hedges of Sanford Stadium.
After the first quarter of Georgia’s homecoming game against the Missouri Tigers, Poulsen was one of five new Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professors to be introduced to the capacity crowd of 92,746 who were watching the Bulldogs improve their record to a perfect 7-0.
“It was a great day celebrating the Meigs Professorship,” Poulsen said. “I am thankful to all my students and colleagues. We are – and continue to be – a team working for an awesome UGA experience!”
UGA honors faculty award winners on the field during the first half of every home football game and each season includes the Meigs Professorship, which is the university’s highest recognition for excellence in instruction.
Named for Josiah Meigs, the university’s president when the first class was enrolled in 1801, the professorship conveys UGA’s commitment to excellence in teaching and the value placed on the learning experiences of its students.
Poulsen, who is the Augustus H. “Billy” Sterne Professor of Banking and Finance, has exemplified those virtues throughout her academic career. She helped develop a class that allows students to gain experience in financial investment by managing a $1.3 million stock portfolio through the Student Managed Investment Fund. She also has developed courses for the college’s study abroad programs at Oxford and in China. She is a former head of the Finance Department, currently chairs the Student Life Committee of University Council and represents the council on the UGA Athletic Association Board of Directors. She is managing co-editor of the Journal of Corporate Finance, a member of the UGA Teaching Academy and a former Senior Teaching Fellow.