Though he excels in a discipline notable for its focus on numbers, Rani Hoitash, a member of Bentley’s Accounting department since 2007, has distinguished himself by prioritizing people. “As a social science researcher, I’m most passionate about how the human element influences outcomes in corporate governance, audit regulation and capital markets,” he says.  

Among the 40-plus peer-reviewed articles Hoitash has published in top-tier academic journals, his most cited paper explores how intensity of corporate board monitoring affects a firm’s value and other outcomes. He has also examined how employees’ trust in management affects the quality of a firm’s financial reporting, the association between auditors’ health and auditing outcomes, and how gender and racial identity influence auditors’ career advancement. His findings have been widely reported in in mainstream media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal and Forbes, and cited in official reports from the Securities and Exchange Commission, Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and other U.S. regulators.  

Colleagues and students alike praise Hoitash for his unwavering support of their own research efforts. A former chair of Bentley’s Research Council, he helped implement new funding opportunities for faculty, distributing hundreds of thousands of dollars in support for new projects. Hoitash has also directly supervised or served on dissertation committees for eight graduates of the university’s PhD in Accounting program — many of whom he counts among his research partners today.

One of those graduates is Jenna Burke PhD ’17, a tenure-track assistant professor at the University of Colorado Denver. “His expertise in auditing and continued mentorship have immeasurably contributed to my success as a scholar,” she says of Hoitash, with whom she’s co-authored several papers. “I have benefited from observing his dedication to research and, on a more personal level, from our discussions about career aspirations, work-life balance, and navigating the intricacies of academia.”  

Following a distinguished career as an educator and administrator — most notably, as headmaster of Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, and president of Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina — Don McNemar joined Bentley’s Global Studies department in 2002.  

A devout Quaker, his religious beliefs were fundamental in fostering his interest in international diplomacy. “Quakers have a basic belief that God is in everyone and that everyone should be treated with respect,” McNemar once shared. “We also believe when cultures are different from your own, you must try to understand that culture and want to bring peace between nations.” He emphasized the importance of cross-cultural understanding through the classes he taught and as co-adviser of Bentley’s Model U.N. chapter.  

“Don brought an experiential, real-world approach to all of his courses, helping students develop critical skills in teamwork, negotiation and public communication while highlighting global issues of ethics, cross-national justice and inequality,” says colleague João Resende-Santos, an associate professor of Global Studies who served as McNemar’s Model U.N. co-adviser for nearly 20 years. “Few other Bentley faculty have been as devoted our students and as effective in nurturing their learning.”