Encourages students to think independently.
D.J. Fairhurst serves as Associate Professor and Maughmer Freedom Philosophy Professor in the Department of Finance and Management Science within Washington State University’s Carson College of Business. He earned his PhD in Finance from the University of Arizona and joined Washington State University in 2014 initially as an Assistant Professor before advancing to his current associate professor role. Fairhurst teaches key courses including FIN 325 and FIN 581 Advanced Managerial Finance in the Online MBA program, where he imparts knowledge on corporate financial decision-making. His research centers on corporate finance, with a particular emphasis on factors influencing managerial decisions such as asset redeployability, equity recycling practices, collateral constraints, and the integration of artificial intelligence in financial analysis. Fairhurst’s scholarship explores how corporate governance mechanisms generate peer effects on financial policies, the motivations behind equity recycling, and the limitations of large language models like ChatGPT in handling specialized financial tasks.
Fairhurst has published extensively in prominent finance journals. Key works include “Asset Redeployability and Corporate Liquidity” in Financial Management (2025), co-authored with S.M. Zahid; “How Much Does ChatGPT Know about Finance?” in the Financial Analysts Journal (2025), which analyzed over 10,000 AI-generated responses to licensing exam questions from Series 6, 7, 65, and 66, revealing strengths in broad concepts but weaknesses in nuanced areas like client insurance and tax implications; “Corporate Governance and Financial Peer Effects” in Financial Management (2020); “Collateral Constraints, Financial Constraints, and Risk Management: Evidence from Antirecharacterization Laws” in the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis (2023); and “The Practice of and Motivation for Equity Recycling” in the Pacific-Basin Finance Journal (2019). These contributions have advanced understanding of corporate liquidity management, risk hedging strategies, and AI’s role in finance. In recognition of his teaching excellence, Fairhurst was inducted into the Washington State University Teaching Academy in 2023. His appointment to the Maughmer Freedom Philosophy Endowed Chair underscores his impact in the Business & Economics field at Washington State University.