The University of Kentucky’s Gatton College of Business and Economics is welcoming new full-time faculty members whose expertise will strengthen teaching, research and student learning across the college. The 2026 new faculty cohort brings experience from universities, industry, government and global business settings. Their areas of expertise include audit regulation, data analytics, behavioral finance, crypto regulation, corporate finance, organizational behavior, stakeholder engagement, consumer well-being and more.
When Michael Wheeler arrived at the University of Kentucky, he planned to study finance through the Wall Street Scholars Program. Four years later, he leaves the University of Kentucky Gatton College of Business and Economics as a triple major, national fellowship participant, student government leader and one of the university’s highest student honorees.
This spring, Wheeler was named one of two recipients of the Otis A. Singletary Outstanding Senior Award, recognizing sustained leadership and service to the University of Kentucky. He also recently represented UK and Gatton College in Washington, D.C., as a 2025-26 Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress (CSPC) Presidential Fellow, presenting original research on economic development policy and leadership.
For Wheeler, the experience reflected years of growth shaped by leadership and relationships formed throughout his time at Gatton College.
The University of Kentucky Finance Conference has become one of the most selective and respected academic gatherings in the field, drawing leading scholars from top institutions across the United States and around the world to Lexington for intensive discussion of emerging research in finance. Hosted by the Gatton College of Business and Economics, the conference reflects both the strength of the college’s finance faculty and the growing national stature of the John Maze Stewart Department of Finance and Quantitative Methods. Over the first 10 years of the conference, organizers received more than 4,400 submissions and featured just over 100 papers, for an overall acceptance rate of less than 2.5%.
Students from the University of Kentucky’s Gatton College of Business and Economics earned third place in the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Investment Challenge, recognizing their portfolio performance among 27 peer institutions across the region.
For the 2025 calendar year, Gatton students in FIN 485 and FIN 490 generated a total return of 25.43%, outperforming the S&P 500’s 17.88% return and placing third among the participating schools.
The award was accepted at the annual TVA Investment Challenge conference by students Ty Wectawski, Abigail Sutherland and Ashton Mazey (pictured above), who represented Gatton as one of only three teams invited to present.
Students from the University of Kentucky’s Gatton College of Business and Economics continued a strong run of results this spring, winning both the team competition and the individual competition and earning a second-place overall finish at the in-person Microsoft Excel Collegiate Challenge Southern Conference championships held in Knoxville.
The competition brought together more than 70 students from across the region to compete in a series of live Excel-based case challenges, testing speed, accuracy and problem-solving under time constraints.
Across the weekend, Gatton students delivered one of the most consistent performances in the field.
The competition challenges students to evaluate publicly traded companies and deliver a structured pitch, simulating the type of analysis and communication required in investment and finance roles.
As student interest in real estate careers continues to grow, the Gatton College of Business and Economics has launched the new Center for Real Estate, an initiative designed to bring structure and real-world context to an increasingly popular field of study.
A team of Gatton College of Business and Economics students earned first place at the inaugural Finance Pitch Cup, a competitive mergers and acquisitions (M&A) pitch event designed to give students real-world exposure to investment banking and corporate finance.
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