Eight McIntire School of Commerce faculty members have been granted promotions and/or tenure as recommended by their colleagues for excellence in their work. The earned recognitions were recently approved by the University’s Board of Visitors for Professors Amanda Cowen, Bevin Etienne, Jing Gong, Peter Gray, Reza Mousavi, Abbie Oliver, Ryan Wright, and Julia Yu.
Professor Amanda Cowen
Professor Cowen is serving as the Interim John A. Griffin Dean of the Commerce School and was promoted to Arthur B. and Claudia Cohen Bicentennial Eminent Professor of Commerce. Cowen is a 2017 recipient of UVA’s prestigious All-University Teaching Award.
Having joined the School’s Management Area in 2007 and been promoted to the rank of Full Professor in 2021, Cowen has previously held the positions of Senior Associate Dean for Academic Programs, Associate Dean for Graduate Programs, and Academic Director of the M.S. in Global Commerce Program at McIntire. Cowen was previously an Associate Editor at Academy of Management Journal (AMJ) and currently serves on the editorial review boards at AMJ and Academy of Management Review. She conducts research on corporate governance and strategic leadership and aims to develop socially informed theories that help to explain decision-making and outcomes in these domains.
“I’m honored by this recognition and incredibly grateful to have spent the past 18 years building my career at McIntire,” says Cowen. “Being part of this community—and working alongside such talented faculty, staff, and students—has been deeply meaningful and provided professional opportunities that have been both challenging and rewarding. Throughout my time here, the mentorship and support I’ve received from my colleagues and former Deans Carl Zeithaml and Nicole Thorne Jenkins have been integral to my development as a scholar, teacher, and leader. I’m excited about McIntire’s future and look forward to contributing to its continued excellence in teaching, research, and the student experience.”
Professor Bevin Etienne
Promoted to the rank of Associate Professor on the General Faculty track, Professor Etienne teaches courses in global commerce, entrepreneurship, sustainability, and more. He has been providing students with the opportunity to explore these areas of his expertise through classes such as the two-week study-abroad Social Entrepreneurship in Dominica course he developed—an elective in McIntire’s Entrepreneurship Minor offered by the Batten School of Leadership & Public Policy.
“I am honored to have been promoted to Associate Professor and deeply grateful to be a part of this vibrant academic community,” says Etienne, who has been teaching at McIntire since 2015. “Working with our incredibly bright and thoughtful students has been one of the most rewarding aspects of my time here, and I look forward to continuing to engage with them in meaningful and challenging ways in the years ahead. Also working with colleagues at the Comm School, across UVA, and students to address key sustainability challenges of our times has been greatly rewarding.”
Professor Jing Gong
Teaching courses in business analytics and information technology at the undergraduate and graduate levels since joining the Commerce School in 2022, Professor Gong was awarded tenure.
“Tenure marks a truly meaningful moment in my journey as an educator and scholar, made possible by the incredible support of my colleagues, students, and mentors,” she says. “I’m honored to continue my work at an institution that consistently challenges and inspires me, and excited to build upon this incredible foundation in the years ahead.”
With a research focus on empirical models to analyze firm and consumer behavior in online markets, with primary focuses in the areas of electronic commerce, digital marketing, two-sided online markets, and IT labor, she and her co-authors won 2024’s INFORMS Information Systems Society Bapna-Ghose Social Justice Best Paper Award for their work on immigration policies’ impact on the IT workforce.
Professor Peter Gray
Professor Gray, who has been with the Comm School since 2006, was promoted to William G. Shenkir Eminent Scholar Professor of Commerce. A teacher of Strategic Management of Information Technology in McIntire’s M.S. in MIT Program and Strategy & Systems in the School’s Integrated Core undergraduate program, he also serves as Senior Editor for MIS Quarterly journal.
“I am deeply honored that [former] Dean Jenkins and the Eminent Scholars at McIntire put forward my nomination for this promotion as a recognition of my contributions to the School in teaching, scholarship, and service,” says Gray. “McIntire has been a tremendous home for me for almost 20 years now, and I certainly would not have been able to achieve as much as I have without a fantastic set of colleagues at the School, outstanding staff, a work environment that encourages excellence on all fronts, and the leadership and encouragement of former Dean Zeithaml during my early years at McIntire.”
Professor Reza Mousavi
Promoted to the rank of Associate Professor with tenure, Professor Mousavi has been teaching undergraduate courses in business analytics with Python and graduate courses in data analytics and data science for the M.S. in Business Analytics and M.S. in Commerce Programs, respectively. Mousavi, who started at McIntire in 2020, has led and been a part of multiple AI initiatives at UVA and McIntire, including the UVAi Vanguard: Transforming UVA’s Academic Landscape with AI & Large Language Models in collaboration with McIntire Professor Jingjing Li and the Department of Psychology, as well as UVA’s GenAI Taskforce.
“Receiving tenure at McIntire is more than a personal milestone—it’s a mandate to keep pushing boundaries in AI and analytics so our students graduate not just career-ready, but future-ready. This promotion transforms gratitude into responsibility; I’m eager to expand cross-disciplinary labs where commerce, technology, and social impact intersect to create the next generation of principled innovators. McIntire’s culture of curiosity turns every hallway conversation into a research idea—earning tenure simply means I now have a lifelong ticket to keep that dialogue vibrant and globally relevant.”
Professor Abbie Oliver
Professor Oliver earned mid-tenure renewal to continue moving her career forward at McIntire. Since joining the Commerce School in 2020, she has taught courses such as Global Management, Strategic Value Creation, and Strategy & Systems, while adding to her intrepid research scholarship within the field of management.
“Receiving my mid-tenure renewal means my colleagues support my research on important yet often unspoken workplace topics like mental health, menopause, and miscarriage support. These areas significantly impact employees but don’t always receive the attention they deserve in business research,” shares Oliver. “Beyond the research opportunities, my time at McIntire has been rewarding through the wonderful colleagues and friends I’ve made who share a passion for advancing meaningful business scholarship.”
Professor Ryan Wright
Promoted to Rolls-Royce Commonwealth Professor of Commerce, Professor Wright has taught many courses across McIntire at the graduate and undergraduate levels, including classes in cybersecurity, analytics, product management, and more. Formerly serving as the Comm School’s Senior Associate Dean of Faculty and Research, he is currently the Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives. With research expertise in IT security and privacy, Wright has been widely published and regularly lends his insights on the subject to business and mainstream media outlets.
“I am incredibly honored by this promotion and excited to join the amazing group of scholars who hold chaired professorships at McIntire. I’m especially thankful to Carl Zeithaml, Ryan Nelson, and Suprateek Sarker for convincing me (it wasn’t that hard) to join UVA back in 2016…one of the best decisions of my life,” says Wright. “Looking ahead, I’m eager to keep pushing the boundaries of research in AI and cybersecurity, and to continue delivering a world-class teaching experience at McIntire.”
Professor Yingri Julia Yu
Promoted to the rank of Associate Professor with tenure, Professor Yu first became a valued member of McIntire, in the Accounting Area, in 2016. With her research in corporate disclosure, financial reporting, corporate governance, and international accounting, she has published articles on machine learning related to fraud and ESG reporting, the latter subject appearing in a Journal of Accounting Research article co-authored with McIntire Professor Jasmine Wang.
“Being promoted to Associate Professor and earning tenure at the McIntire School of Commerce, University of Virginia, is a significant milestone in my career. It represents the recognition of my accomplishments and contributions to accounting research and teaching by both the University and the academic world,” says Yu. “More importantly, it ensures that I can continue serving the Comm School, the University of Virginia, and the broader community of higher education, which brings me a strong sense of purpose and fulfillment.”
