New Finance Faculty Member Creates First Fintech Course at Whitman
Yu Shan
Assistant Professor of Finance
- Faculty
Fintech has become a vital component to attracting students interested in studying business. The Whitman School recognizes that a growing emphasis in this area will continue to raise its profile while also preparing students with the hard skills they will need to be competitive in this fascinating and rapidly growing space.
The field of financial technology – or fintech – continues to grow at a rapid pace, and business school students are eager to gain skills that combines finance with areas like information technology, computer science, engineering and entrepreneurship. To this end, the Whitman School recently welcomed Yu Shan, a tenure-track assistant professor, to the finance department to share his expertise and develop its first fintech-specific course.
With a Ph.D. in finance from Baruch College, a master’s degree in financial engineering from the University of Southern California and a bachelor’s degree in finance and economics from Central University of Finance and Economics, Shan brings a vast background in fintech to the Whitman School. For the last three years, he taught management of finance and financial institutions and pursued research focused on banking, financial intermediation, fintech, consumer finance, social networking and managerial behavior at Concordia University in Montreal. However, his wife was working in New York City, and they were expecting a baby (a girl, born in December 2022), so Shan decided to look for opportunities geographically closer to his family. He found the right fit at the Whitman School, where he joined the faculty in fall 2022.
During his first semester, Shan was tasked with developing a special topics course on fintech for both graduate and undergraduate students. “It’s been both difficult and exciting to have the opportunity to design a course from scratch,” he says. “This disruptive technology is making a profound change on traditional business models, products and processes of delivery of financial services and more. While finance and technology have long been intertwined, today’s version is no longer led by large financial institutions but instead by technology companies. It’s Silicon Valley working its way into the world of finance.”
Debuting this spring semester, the course has been well received by students, particularly those about to enter the job market. Moving forward, Shan intends to continue to adapt and bridge the connection between student interest and the real world demands of fintech, not only in the classroom but also through collaboration with alumni across the Orange network who are on the frontier of these innovative technologies.
“Fintech has become a vital component to attracting students interested in studying business,” he says. “The Whitman School recognizes that a growing emphasis in this area will continue to raise its profile while also preparing students with the hard skills they will need to be competitive in this fascinating and rapidly growing space. I look forward to having a role in its success.”
With a Ph.D. in finance from Baruch College, a master’s degree in financial engineering from the University of Southern California and a bachelor’s degree in finance and economics from Central University of Finance and Economics, Shan brings a vast background in fintech to the Whitman School. For the last three years, he taught management of finance and financial institutions and pursued research focused on banking, financial intermediation, fintech, consumer finance, social networking and managerial behavior at Concordia University in Montreal. However, his wife was working in New York City, and they were expecting a baby (a girl, born in December 2022), so Shan decided to look for opportunities geographically closer to his family. He found the right fit at the Whitman School, where he joined the faculty in fall 2022.
During his first semester, Shan was tasked with developing a special topics course on fintech for both graduate and undergraduate students. “It’s been both difficult and exciting to have the opportunity to design a course from scratch,” he says. “This disruptive technology is making a profound change on traditional business models, products and processes of delivery of financial services and more. While finance and technology have long been intertwined, today’s version is no longer led by large financial institutions but instead by technology companies. It’s Silicon Valley working its way into the world of finance.”
Debuting this spring semester, the course has been well received by students, particularly those about to enter the job market. Moving forward, Shan intends to continue to adapt and bridge the connection between student interest and the real world demands of fintech, not only in the classroom but also through collaboration with alumni across the Orange network who are on the frontier of these innovative technologies.
“Fintech has become a vital component to attracting students interested in studying business,” he says. “The Whitman School recognizes that a growing emphasis in this area will continue to raise its profile while also preparing students with the hard skills they will need to be competitive in this fascinating and rapidly growing space. I look forward to having a role in its success.”