For Mark Johnson, an assistant professor of finance in the BYU Marriott School of Business, the decision to come to BYU Marriott to teach finance wasn’t driven only by a love of numbers or research—though he says he enjoys both. What ultimately drew him to academia was the chance to pair those interests with the opportunity to build lasting relationships with students and colleagues.
While Johnson studied finance during his undergrad, he discovered through an internship that corporate finance didn’t match well with his personality and preferences. One of his mentors mentioned that Johnson would likely be around coworkers for most of his life, which gave Johnson an idea. “When I would talk to my professors, there was always something interesting to talk about,” he says. “I felt like I would love to work with people like that.”
His realization led Johnson to set his sights on a career in academia. After finishing his bachelor’s degree, he headed to The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business to get a PhD. After five years in Columbus, Ohio, where he researched the impact of financial technology on small businesses and households, he returned to BYU Marriott as an assistant professor.
Johnson says that having professors as his coworkers has lived up to what he hoped it would be. “My colleagues keep me sharp,” he says. “They cause me to think critically—not just about the problems that we face as we do research in finance, but about all kinds of things.”
So, when Johnson leaves a department lunch wanting to read more historical novels, he says he isn’t surprised. “I think professors are just genuinely curious people, and it just happens that we focus on one area,” he explains. “But we're pretty curious about anything.”
That inherent curiosity is common in professors because many wouldn’t have been able to make it through a PhD program without it, Johnson says. He explains that while he was able to follow a formula for success from grade school through his undergrad, his PhD required him to think deeper and be curious about human thought and understanding. “You basically have to become an entrepreneur and a salesman and a statistician all at once to come up with a question that nobody else has asked and convince people that your answers are compelling,” he says.
Johnson says that while he pursued professorship because of relationships with his coworkers, the students are the reason he came back to Provo. “I feel like the students we get here at BYU are unique,” he says. “I love that you're surrounded by students that are also intellectually curious, driven, and want to be the best version of themselves.”
Johnson combines his drive for learning with his passion for meaningful relationships, connecting with students by sharing his past and present life struggles. “I feel like being transparent is an important component to relationships,” he says. “I try to build students, not just in intellectually enlarging ways, but through sharing what I've learned in other facets of life.”
Ultimately, being able to combine his two passions while being centered on building people is why Johnson says that he loves BYU. “I like the fact that we are teaching in a way that not only builds our intellect, but also strengthens us spiritually,” he says. “BYU feels like home.”