Doctoral student Mauro Oliveira named 2013-2014 UTSA Beldon Scholar

Mauro Gonzaga de Oliveira

By John Shaffer
Assistant Director of Graduate Student Success, UTSA Graduate School

(July 17, 2013) -- Mauro Gonzaga de Oliveira has been named the 2013-2014 recipient of the Louise and Michael Beldon Doctoral Scholarship. 

Oliveira hails from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and moved to the United States in 1996. In 1998, he completed an M.S. in chemical engineering at the University of Houston. After working for a few years as an engineer and project manager, he started his M.B.A. at the University of Texas at Austin.

"The M.B.A. was a decisive experience in my life," said Oliveria. "I met exceptional professors who introduced me to corporate finance, accounting, and macro and microeconomics. The inter-relationship of the [business] disciplines is what fascinated me the most."

After receiving his M.B.A. in 2005, Oliveira worked in the private sector developing and managing a business unit and supporting CFOs and CEOs with strategic planning. It was professionally rewarding work, but he desired a more sophisticated intellectual challenge -- an academic career in finance.

"As a first step [to a career in academia], I decided to resume my academic studies with an M.S. in finance at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) in preparation for a Ph.D." Oliveira graduated in May 2013, with a 4.0 grade point average and a master's degree in finance. Just before starting his second master's, Oliveira achieved U.S. citizenship status. He will start his Ph.D. in finance in the fall 2013 semester.

His research interest is corporate finance, and he wants to focus on the areas of mergers and acquisitions, valuations, studies related to capital structuring such as the issuing of equity and debt securities, IPOs, financial restructuring, bankruptcy and extend some of these analyses into the international arena.

Oliveira chose to remain at UTSA for his doctoral studies.  "I was very impressed with the dedication and the quality of the faculty, which I had the privilege to meet during the master's in finance program," he said.

Two faculty members that stand out to Oliveira are Fathali Firoozi (economics) and Karan Bhanot (finance). "They mentored me in the consolidation of ideas. They are invested in their students' success both in the program and in preparation for post-graduate careers," he added. "They are the reason I continued at UTSA."

Being a recipient of the Beldon Scholarship is very important to Oliveira and his family, since he will not be working during the time he is in his doctoral program, dedicating his time solely to his academic studies. Post-graduation, he plans to stay in the South Texas/San Antonio area with his wife and two children.

"I love the area. I cannot think of any place I would rather raise my children and start a career in academia, contributing to society and to younger generations of students," Oliveira concluded.