Teacher, Professor, and Coach

With 35 years at VSB under his belt, Finance and Real Estate professor Gerard Olson, PhD has seen the school through it all. From rapid expansion and new program offerings to national recognition and even a name change, the Villanova School of Business may appear like a very different place today. But Olson maintains that the character of the VSB community has withstood the test of time. He reflects, “I’ve seen many faculty, staff, and students pass through Bartley Hall, but the VSB community of helping others has remained the same.”

Before coming to Villanova, Olson taught inner city high schoolers in North Philadelphia, not far from where he grew up. This is where his passion for education was ignited. When considering where to teach at the college level, Olson ultimately chose Villanova because it values both research and teaching.

At VSB, he loves cultivating a classroom environment that embraces learning and growth. A lifelong learner himself, Olson has written numerous research publications across the fields of finance, management, and economics. He works to instill this love of learning in his students.

His reach extends outside the classroom, to his role as a coach. Olson has coached over 40 youth and travel baseball teams and over 30 youth and travel soccer teams. As in the classroom, Coach Olson stressed the values of doing your best, supporting others, and to “win, lose and tie with honor and dignity,” a lesson Olson reminded his players prior to the handshake with the opposing team after each baseball or soccer game. Players would recite this phrase years later, long after their playing days were over, highlighting the mark it left on them.

Olson reflects that hearing about the impact he has made on players and students alike reinforces his calling towards education. Among the thousands of students that Olson watched pass through Bartley Hall are three of his sons: Matt, Tim, and Mark. His fourth son, Gerard, didn’t travel too far, earning his degree from Villanova’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. His son Mark even teaches alongside him in the Finance and Real Estate Department at VSB. For Olson, this truly makes his journey of parenting, teaching, and coaching come full circle.

Although change for the better at VSB is perpetual, whether it be curriculum, resources, facilities, or students, the next generation of Olson educators hopefully look back thirty years from now confident that Villanova’s Augustinian traditions provide for the continuity of character that Professor Olson so aptly observed.