Biography

Jim Gilkeson is the Founding Chair of the Integrated Business department and an Associate Professor in the Department of Finance at the University of Central Florida. He earned his Ph.D. in Business Administration (Finance) from Duke University, along with an MSM (MBA) with a concentration in Finance from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a B.S. in Computer Science from Duke.

The BSBA in Integrated Business is a unique program designed in 2015 that is 100% flipped classroom with team-based, active learning in every class, every day. It does not use textbooks or lectures, and emphasizes soft (transferable) skills development along with coursework in business processes that span industries and job titles. In the four years since it was launched, it has grown to be with largest major in the UCF College of Business and the 3rd largest major at UCF, with almost 1,500 students. 

Dr. Gilkeson joined the UCF faculty in the fall of 1994. During the 1996-1997 academic year, he was on leave from UCF while serving as a member of the Risk Analysis Division of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (U.S. Treasury Department).  In September 2000, he earned the right to use the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation. He has also served on the faculties of Chapman University and North Carolina Central University. For ten years, he served as the Chief Contract Negotiator for United Faculty of Florida - UCF's faculty union.

Dr. Gilkeson has published articles in a variety of academic and professional journals, including the Journal of Banking & Finance, the Journal of Financial Services Research, Economics Letters, the Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, the Journal of Investing, the Journal of Financial Planning, Psychology & Marketing, the Journal of Business Research, the Journal of Financial Education, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta Economic Review, Mortgage Banking, the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Economic Review and the American Association of Individual Investor’s AAII Journal.  He has served as a consultant, analyst, and expert witness for numerous private clients, including the CFA Institute.

In free moments, Dr. Gilkeson enjoys spending time at the beach, sharing a bottle of wine with friends, and engaging (when possible) with his young-adult son.