Mark A. White

Associate Professor of Commerce

Office phone: 434-924-7365
e-mail: mwhite@virginia.edu

Education:

Ph.D., Finance, Michigan State University
M.B.A., Finance, Michigan State University
M.S., Ecology, Michigan State University
B.A., Biology, Kalamazoo College

Areas of Expertise:

Professor White specializes in teaching corporate finance, international finance, and courses examining business’ relationship with the natural environment. His current research focuses on the use of ecological capital, a topic melding his expertise in financial modeling with his interests in environmental conservation. Professor White is actively engaged in the identification and evaluation of innovative business strategies for achieving a sustainable society.

Professional Activities:

Professor White maintains a strong interest in the development and application of new pedagogical techniques, with special emphasis on interdisciplinary and study-abroad courses. He recently received a $150,000 award from the Procter & Gamble Foundation to develop and teach an inventive cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural course, “Investing in a Sustainable Future.” With support from the University’s Center for Global Health, he is developing a companion course, “Financing a Sustainable Future,” to be offered for the first time in Tanzania during January term 2007.

Professor White has extensive experience coordinating international study trips and has led student groups throughout Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, and South America as participants in international finance classes and “The Business of Saving Nature,” a course he developed and co-teaches with a colleague from U.Va.’s Department of Environmental Sciences.

Professor White speaks fluent German and spent a year in Augsburg, Germany, as a Fulbright Research Professor studying businesses’ responses to environmental challenges. He continues to work closely with his German colleagues on environmental management issues.

Selected Publications:

“A Cost-Benefit Model for Evaluating Remediation Alternatives at Superfund Sites Incorporating the Value of Ecosystem Services,” in Reclaiming the Land (G. Macey and J. Cannon, eds), 2006 (with M. A. Kenney).

“Mingle: A Participative Exercise to Motivate the Understanding of Cross-cultural Differences in International Business,” Journal of Teaching in International Business, 1998 (with E. M. Whitener).

“Environmental Finance: Value and Risk in an Age of Ecology,” Business Strategy and the Environment, 1996.

“Valuing Unique Natural Resources: The Case of Endangered Species,” The Appraisal Journal, 1996.

“The Performance of Environmental Mutual Funds in the United States and Germany: Is There Economic Hope for ‘Green’ Investors?” Research in Corporate Social Performance and Policy, 1995.

“Downside Risk and Investment Choice,” The Financial Review, 1993 (with K. S. Tse and J. Uppal).

Personalized Web page