Therese E. Pactwa, Ph.D.

Associate Professor
PhD, Finance, Florida International UniversityMS, Finance, Drexel UniversityBBA, Economics, University of Iowa
Professor Therese Pactwa earned her B.B.A. in Economics from the University of Iowa, her M.S. in Finance from Drexel University, and her Ph.D in Finance from Florida International University. Her dissertation is entitled "Using Extreme Value Theory to Value Stock Market Returns." She is the co-author of a book "The Return Generating Models in Global Finance" as well as two chapters in other books. Her research has been published in several scholarly journals. One of her articles, "Selecting a Portfolio with Skewness: Recent Evidence from U.S., European, and Latin American Equity Markets," was published in the Journal of Banking and Finance and has been since cited 311 times (as of May 31, 2022).

Dr. Pactwa has also been honored for her research by receiving the Best PhD Paper Award at the Southern Finance Association's annual meeting in November 1996, in Key West, FL and the 2003-2004 Outstanding Research Contribution of the Year for the Tobin College of Business at St. John's University.

Dr. Pactwa has enjoyed a long and distinguished teaching career at St. John's. While teaching many, many different courses at both the graduate and undergraduate levels, Therese has twice earned the Tobin College of Business Outstanding Teaching Award (2007 and 2014). She has taught on our Staten Island, Queens, and Manhattan Campuses. She has also taught graduate courses in Rome, Italy and London, England. She has been teaching one of TCB's flagship courses: Managing Investment Funds I and II for over 15 years. She also taught a PhD course for several years on IPOs for the International School of Management, as well as a continuing education course on pricing exotic options for a group of graduate students from China.

At the professional level, Therese held various positions in the commercial banking industry. She began her career as a commercial credit analyst for Princeton Bank (which became Chemical Bank, which is now part of JPMorganChase) and became a commercial lender. After receiving her MS degree in Finance, Chemical promoted her to Assistant Chief of Staff. She then became the Chief Credit Officer at Regent National Bank in Philadelphia, PA.

Teaching Interests

Foundations of Finance, Corporate Finance, Commercial Banking, Capital and Money Markets, Investments, International Finance, Student Managed Investment Fund

Research Interests

Empirical Asset Pricing, Equity Valuation, Market Efficiency and International Finance

Courses Taught

FIN
2310
FOUNDATIONS OF FINANCE
FIN
3311
CORPORATE FINANCIAL ANALYSIS
FIN
3315
COMMERCIAL BANKING
FIN
3316
FUND OF CAPITAL & MONEY MKTS
FIN
4327
MANAGING INVESTMENT FUNDS I
FIN
4328
MANAGING INVESTMENT FUNDS II

Select Publications

Conference Proceedings

Pactwa, T. E., and Moy, R. L. Too Big to Fail: A Case Study of the 2008 Financial Crisis. Financial Education Association.