Vahap Uysal is an associate professor of finance at DePaul and the academic director of the Arditti Center for Risk Management. Uysal earned his bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the Bilkent University and a master’s in economics from Middle East Technical University, both in his home country of Turkey. When he traveled to the United States in 1998, he began working towards a master’s degree in economics and then later earned a PhD in finance from the University of Texas at Austin in 2005. It was at UT Austin where he made the transition from mathematics to economics and ultimately to finance after realizing he preferred working with real-time data that would benefit companies. Uysal found his path in finance thanks to his love for math and economics. He felt that math was too abstract for him, but knew he could utilize his math and science skills through finance. While earning his PhD, Uysal taught advanced corporate finance and later got his first full-time position at the University of Oklahoma teaching the Student Investment Fund. He has been teaching in the Department Finance at DePaul for the past 6 years as well as serving as the academic director in the Arditti Center for Risk Management.
Throughout Uysal’s work and experience in academia, he has witnessed how the financial industry has grown and how the standard for excellence has changed. When talking about what companies are looking for in potential employees, Uysal noted, “The current financial landscape is more technology-oriented. Ten years ago, there was more interest in graduate MBA programs; however, right now recruiters, the financial industry, and companies want undergraduates to perform the same level of tasks as MBA students.” Uysal recognizes that the skills required for finance professionals are becoming more and more demanding and that students must be proactive now to best prepare themselves for their careers. Uysal elaborated on how the leaders of the future should be confident not only in finance but in computer science as well.
“Students need to build their skill set in programming. I advise all my students to learn at least one programing language”.
With more specific candidates in mind, current finance students need to put a concerted effort into becoming well-rounded candidates, building experience in financial realms but also working towards developing strong communication skills and being familiar with coding, which can make one’s application stand out among the masses. Professor Uysal strongly believes that the future of the finance industry is in programming so being familiar with software such as Python or Excel will give current students an advantage in the field. In his research as an empirical corporate finance researcher, Uysal uses software such as SAS and Stata to analyze how firms generate and distribute value in mergers and acquisitions.
Actuarial Summer Academy – 2019
In addition to building a solid technical skill base, it is important for students to recognize the importance of giving back. Recently, Professor Uysal has developed an interest in corporate social responsibility. He can explore this subject with the Arditti Research Center by organizing key conferences that help promote education around financial risk management. The Arditti Center organizes three major conferences each year, one of which is their annual conference on the importance of cybersecurity. Additionally, the Arditti Center works hard to educate the youth and stimulate interest in the financial fields. Every summer the center hosts a free Actuarial Academy Program for Chicago high school students. Roughly, sixty students are invited to DePaul’s campus to learn about basic expense methods as well as data analysis. The academy ends with a big research presentation at the end of their stay where the students demonstrate what they learned. This program supports students who excel in mathematics and feeds interest in the financial and actuarial fields. Many of these students would be the first in their family to attend colleges so programs sponsored by the Arditti center help young adults prepare for college and get a better understanding of the college experience.
Professor Uysal enjoys being engaged with the DePaul community and goes above and beyond to help mentor the next generation of financial professionals. When he is not educating students or helping manage the Arditti Center, Uysal can be found spending quality time with his family and children. He is an expert on investing and risk management, but Uysal says with great enthusiasm that his family is his best investment. Uysal is currently working on a project with his son helping him set up his investment portfolio. This project has brought the two of them closer and he also gets to share his expertise with yet another dedicated pupil. Uysal is also an avid reader. He keeps himself occupied with a variety of different authors, including Harry Kraemer and Stephen Kinzer and tries to enrich his intellectual capability with different authors in order to gain different perspectives on contemporary issues as well as finance-related topics. Aside from spending time with his family and reading, Uysal enjoys his time by playing chess and participating in weekly fit-bit challenges with his peers.
By Jeremy Prince