Siaw-Peng Wan
Siaw-Peng Wan, Ph.D., CFA
Co-Dean, School of Business; Professor, Finance
Ph.D. in Economics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
M.S. in Economics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
B.A. in Economics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Siaw-Peng Wan teaches primarily finance and quantitative courses in both the undergraduate and the graduate programs at Elmhurst. However, he has also taught a number of courses in other disciplines such as accounting, economics, international business, and marketing.
Over the past 10 years, Dr. Wan has provided numerous training sessions and workshops on the use of Microsoft Excel for Elmhurst College students and staff, the local community, and local businesses. He received his CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) charter in 2007.
- BUS 310 Business Analysis Using Excel
- BUS 376 International Finance
- BUS 381 Excel-Based Decision Making Tools I
- BUS 441 Corporate Finance
- BUS 442 Investment Theory and Portfolio Management
- BUS 480 Excel-Based Decision Making Tools II
- ECO 414 Microeconomics
- MBA 502 Analytical Tools for Management Decision
- MBA 504 Financial Management
Many of the courses I teach cover subjects that are often highly analytical and mathematical, so my students often encounter a large number of formulas and equations in the materials. Rather than having my students simply memorize the formulas and equations, I put more emphasis on helping them understand the concepts and logic behind the formulas and equations. I strongly believe that if the students truly understand the concepts behind a topic, they will be able to handle any scenarios related to that particular topic.
I use a large number of in-class examples to help my students develop a better understanding of the materials. The examples enable me to show my students that regardless of the scenarios of the examples, there is a common approach, or theme, that links all of them together. I also reinforce the idea that it is more important to understand than to memorize the formulas by allowing students to bring in a formula sheet of their own making to the exams. I always stress that in the real world, they can always look up the formulas they need rather than memorize them. There are just too many formulas in my field for my students to memorize all of them.