Robert Chatt, Ph.D., assistant professor of finance, has exhibited his generous spirit to assist and educate others, especially during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Dr. Chatt has offered some Excel training courses to faculty and staff over the past year, but expanded collaboration to the Zoom meeting platform recently and has extended an offer to teach employees about financial literacy following recovery from the pandemic.
“Excel is straightforward to use and approximately 90 percent of businesses report using it daily, so developing proficiency with the program his highly valuable,” Dr. Chatt explained. However, since Excel has a wide range of functionality, Dr. Chatt aims to help users learn how to expand their knowledge of Excel.
He’d like to develop a strong local business community in the region, starting with students, then University employees, and finally outside the campus. “Starting this fall, my Financial Management course will include a community engagement component that will help me shift the focus to the local community,” he said.
When the University moved to remote learning exclusively, the Zoom meeting platform became a popular option to facilitate this transition. After experiencing an issue during his first use of Zoom, Dr. Chatt volunteered to run a session to assist beginners (like him) to learn how to use Zoom.
“I knew if I started the ball rolling, it would bring people in,” he reasoned. It worked. Several Zoom users and Lynn Zayac of the Center for Instructional Technology reached out to help during the sessions and assisted fellow employees and members of the University’s Academic Information Services team have been invaluable in this area. “Everyone’s efforts to unite and share the load was really inspiring,” said Dr. Chatt.
On April 9, Dr. Chatt joined Zayac and History Professor Mara Dodge, Ph.D., for a Zoom session titled “Going to Teach Online in Hurry? Resources to Survive the Shift,” hosted by Dristi Neog, assistant professor of geography, planning and sustainability and coordinator of the University’s Faculty Center for Learning and Teaching.
Once this crisis has passed, this fall Dr. Chatt intends to offer an information session in financial literacy for employees. Raised by financially savvy parents, Dr. Chatt focused his education in finance and economics and wishes to share basic knowledge with others to avoid common pitfalls.
Because he is not a licensed financial advisor, Dr. Chatt hopes to assemble a panel of professionals to speak about general financial matters. “I am fortunate to speak the language of finance and I have experience translating it to ordinary English,” he said. “The terminology barrier is often a big obstacle for people, so if I can help them overcome this, I’m happy to do so.”