NSU Horizons Spring 2018

32 NSU HORIZONS Albert Williams , Ph.D., is using a graph on PowerPoint to explain credit scores to his students. The numbers show a correlation between credit and age—that is, consumers who are 50 or older have higher scores. While a likely reason might be higher earnings or lower debt, a different theory is posed by a student in the personal finance class: Do people with better credit live longer? What begins as a lesson about credit management spins off into another discussion: Does money buy happiness? (The short answer is yes, to a point, the class decides.) Whether through such graphs or spin-off discussions, teaching students how to apply economics and finance to real-world practice is the forte of Williams, an associate professor at NSU’s H. Wayne Huizenga College of Business and Entrepreneurship and the recipient of the 2017 STUEY (Student Life Achievement) Faculty of the Year Award. Williams draws on his own diverse work experience to help students grasp difficult subjects. Before arriving at NSU in 2003, Williams was a high-school math teacher, a banker, a CEO of an agricultural marketing company, an economist, a commodity analyst, and an adjunct professor. “One of the secrets to my success is that I can break down high-level, complicated subjects and make them easy to understand,” he said. “My teaching style is storytelling, but with numbers and what numbers mean. If I put a graph on the board, that’s a story. I show students how to pull that story out of the graph. “When students leave my class, they’re talking about how [the course curriculum] is applied in the real world. How does it affect them personally? How will what they’re learning make their lives better?” A native of Belize, Williams began his teaching career at his Catholic high school alma mater. “Teaching was more of a calling,” he said, and he’s not afraid to have fun with it. He often lightens the mood by playing his guitar in class. As the faculty speaker at NSU’s 2017 Convocation, Williams surprised everyone by picking up his Fender Stratocaster guitar—hidden behind the flower pot on the stage—and playing an original, two-minute solo. “I played a smooth solo that made you want to dance,” joked Williams. He writes his own music, which he describes as a blend of rock, reggae, and Latin. Students loved it. “I thought it was awesome that he showed us one of his [lifelong] hobbies,” said David Lamb, a freshman business administration major who was at Convocation and who took Williams’ personal finance honors course. “No one knew he was going to play the guitar,” said Bahaudin G. Mujtaba, D.B.A., professor at the Huizenga College and a longtime colleague of Williams. “Everybody else was saying the same things—‘Come to class on time and study hard.’ He got up there and changed the pace in a way that related to the young students so they’re thinking, ‘This isn’t boring; it’s something fun.’ “He is not afraid to go beyond the typical teaching duties to make the university a good learning environment,” Mujtaba said, citing Williams’ ability to connect with students, his cultural and professional diversity, and his role as faculty adviser to the Graduate Business Student Association (GBSA). BY KATHLEEN KERNICKY Finding Financial Harmony FACULTY PROFILE “When you touch someone in a small way, it just might be enough to set them on a different path. You never know what’s going to make a difference.” —Albert Williams