Six New Faculty Members Bring Diverse Expertise to the E. J. Ourso College of Business

Tracy Morgan, Instructor, Department of Accounting

Instructor Tracy Morgan comes to LSU from Mississippi, where she previously taught accounting classes at Holmes Community College, The Mississippi Virtual Community College, and Mississippi College. She received a BSBA in Accounting and an MBA from Mississippi College and is currently taking classes towards her Master’s in Taxation at Mississippi State University.

This fall, Morgan will teach ACC 2101- Introduction to Managerial Accounting and will serve as the Beta Alpha Psi Advisor. She hopes to teach her students a specific lesson outlined in one of her favorite quotes from the book Mindset by Carol Dweck.  “No matter what your ability is, effort is what ignites that ability and turns it into accomplishment.”

Scott Abrahams, Assistant Professor, Department of Economics

Assistant Professor Scott Abrahams brings a refreshing mix of teaching and industry experience to the Department of Economics. In addition to his time teaching at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, he’s also worked for the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, the World Bank, and the Inter-American Development Bank.

Abrahams earned his BA in Economics from Washington University in St. Louis, his MA in International Relations from Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, and a PhD in Economics from Duke University. His teaching interests include labor economics and applied economics, while his research is focused on job loss, job search, barriers to employment, and regional inequality.

This fall, Abrahams will teach Wage and Employment Analysis (undergraduate) and Labor Economics (graduate). He hopes to teach his students this year the importance of the questions, “How do we know?”

Charlotte Jacobs, Assistant Professor, Rucks Department of Management

Assistant Professor Charlotte Jacobs comes to us from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where she worked in an international trading company monitoring imports of products and credit lines of customers, and at a venture capital fund assisting in its operations.

Jacobs earned a Master’s in History and Master’s in Law from Ghent University, an MBA from Fundação Getulio Vargas (Rio de Janeiro), and her PhD in Strategic Management from Temple University. 

Her research is mainly focused how industries are shaped and their strategies in molding their industry environment towards their vision for the future. Currently, her research occurs in the context of the photovoltaic cell industry, but she hopes to expand to diverse renewable energy industries in the future.

This fall, Jacobs will teach Strategic Management, and she hopes by the end of the semester that her students will understand that strategic management is no exact science. There is no 'right' answer. A manager needs to know what type of information to collect, analyze it critically, and make the best-informed decision. This means that strategic decision making is a complex process that allows for a lot of discussion, which the manager needs to handle well to make sure their firm moves forward and creates an advantage relative to its competition.           

Monique Domingo, Assistant Professor, Rucks Department of Management

Prior to her career in academia, Assistant Professor Monique Domingo gained experience in the banking and international exporting industries. Specifically, she worked at Wells Fargo Bank and at WW International as an administrator and sales representative. She was also a research intern with a consulting company known as the group for organizational effectiveness. 

Domingo earned her BS in Business Administration with a focus in Management from San Francisco State University in 2015, and a PhD in Management with a focus in Organizational Behavior from the University of Connecticut in 2022. Her research examines how leadership is a system of behaviors that can cultivate team and organizational effectiveness, especially in reaction and response to critical and disruptive events.

This fall, Domingo will teach MGT 3620- Organizational Behavior. Within her curriculum, she enjoys leveraging management research to inspire leadership in her students. 

Ruixiang Song, Assistant Professor, Rucks Department of Management

Before he moved to Baton Rouge, Assistant Professor Ruixiang Song taught Principles of Management, Strategic Management, and a Business Simulation Lab at Auburn University. He holds an MBA from the University of Alabama Birmingham and a PhD in Management from Auburn University.

Song is set to teach strategic management in the fall and spring semesters, and his research interests lie in corporate governance and research methods. In fact, Song’s dissertation was on the adoption of protection mechanisms by CEOs of rival firms in the face of short-selling threats.

Throughout the academic year, Song hopes to encourage his students to think critically about how to translate the theoretical knowledge discussed in class into practical understanding of the complex organizational landscapes we are experiencing today.

Holly Peterson, Assistant Professor, Department of Public Administration

Before coming to LSU, Assistant Professor Holly Peterson taught at the University of South Alabama and worked in nonprofit reproductive healthcare administration. She’s also an associate editor at the Policy Studies Journal and Policy Practice & Theory.

Peterson earned a BA in Sociology and English and a Master of Public Administration both from Auburn University Montgomery. She has a PhD in Public Policy from Oregon State University. Her research interests include environmental policy, climate adaptation, extreme weather, policy process, and vulnerable populations. 

Her teaching interests include public administration, public policy, and environmental management and policy and she has experience teaching on-campus, online, and in service-learning modalities. This fall, she will teach introduction to public administration.

Peterson hopes to teach her students the rewards of being open, critically receptive, and creative with new information. Sometimes new knowledge can shine light on past knowledge and wisdom in unexpected and fruitful ways.