The Carroll School of Management– it’s one of the most prestigious business schools in the country. CSOM students compete with the top Ivy League students for jobs and internships every year. We (I myself am a CSOMER) work hard and through the vigorous training that the Carroll School puts us through we come out not only functioning members of society but part of the elite minds in the business world. Now, I think it is only fair to want to dive deeper in the individuals who make up the Carroll School. Namely one professor in the Finance department, Hassan Tehranian, and that’s right, you’ve guessed it– my dad!
Hassan Tehranian is an endowed chair and chair of the Finance department. He is involved mainly in the hiring and recruiting efforts for new faculty. This is so important because these are the professors that then teach us, as CSOM students, everything we need to know. He works with the professors on course development and assignments, making sure that they are up to what is now expected of a student coming out of The Carroll School. Finally his job entails making evaluations and coming up with strategies for the future for the department.
Professor Tehranian has had a lot of experience with this role as he has been working at Boston College since the year 1979. Before BC he attended University of Alabama which, funny enough, my brother now attends as well. My father also said that his favorite part of BC is “educating the whole student in the Jesuit tradition in order for them to serve others in the future.” He says that this is one of the main reasons he has stayed at BC for his entire career as professor. He had been in the position numerous times to move and change his place and status in an academic setting but felt that BC had something special in the young men and women it helps develop. My father really wanted to be a part of that.
When asked what is his favorite part of his job my father replied, “The people.” This confused me because from what I know my dad doesn’t really teach classes anymore. So I pressed him further. He clarified, “every year more and more students apply to CSOM. We keep having record breaking numbers. Each year I am impressed more with the intellect. There are so many students that I have to turn down for classes and overrides that just really want to be in the class and it makes me excited for what the future holds for these minds.”
So I like to think that my father loves going to school with me but I had to ask him what he really thinks about it. I approved of the answer! “I love having my Nina at school with me; I get to see you every day!”
As many of you already know we had a surprise visit from Kobe Bryant in an evening finance class a few weeks ago. My father was lucky enough to meet him. So what was it like meeting Kobe Bryant? “It was wonderful meeting Kobe in an academic setting. It was nice to see that he was interested and serious about learning. He was very interested in the finance seminar and he asked some intelligent questions to our guest speaker. And he is so tall!”
My final question was what is one thing people don’t know about you? “I worked at Burger King to support my education and also as a waiter, bus boy and bartender.” Who knew that my dad started from the bottom?
So, I hope that this gives you a little insight into the people that make up our school. Behind every great professor there a real person and that person has a past with real stories. These people were once just like us and now they have made it so far. I love that I can say one of them is my dad.