For Haresh Sapra, teaching accounting at Chicago Booth is always a new adventure. "I literally feel a rush of adrenaline as I walk into class," he says. "I cherish my class time every week because I feel like I am on top of the world teaching some of the best and brightest students in the country."

Sapra’s students feel the same way about him. In 2004, they gave him the Emory Williams Award for Excellence in Teaching for the second year in a row. The award recognizes a Chicago Booth junior faculty member for communication, accessibility, enthusiasm, and innovation in teaching.

Sapra cites clarity of presentation and perseverance as key aspects of his teaching style. He learned the latter from his high school chemistry teacher. "He instilled in me the notion that you should keep forging ahead until you understand something," says Sapra. If necessary, he will explain a concept 10 different ways to make sure his students understand it. "I enjoy taking highly technical and complicated material and making it interesting and practical for the students," he adds.

But don’t confuse clarity or practicality with simplicity. Sapra says he makes his course more difficult each time he teaches it. "Chicago Booth students are very motivated and driven. They not only rise to the challenge, they also thrive on it."

With input from investment banks, Sapra develops his own class material to relate coursework to real-world applications such as recent acquisitions. This keeps his class on the cutting edge and gives his students a competitive advantage in their jobs and internships.

When he’s not racking up teaching awards, Sapra conducts research on disclosure regulation and the real effects of disclosure policies. In one of his studies, Sapra explored the economic tradeoffs between measuring assets and liabilities at fair market values versus historical costs. He found that mark-to-market regimes are better suited to short-lived, liquid, or junior claims such as marketable equity securities, while historical cost regimes are better for long-lived, illiquid, or senior claims such as bank loans.

"The research culture here is such that you always get the feeling that the sky is the limit in terms of what you can achieve," says Sapra. "You simply cannot underestimate the reach of the University of Chicago. My fellow researchers, both at Chicago Booth and around the world, have taught me that great research and strong teaching are not mutually exclusive."