Office of External Communications

Houston, TX 77204-5017 Fax: 713.743.8199

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 14, 2007

Contact: Angie Joe
713.743.8153 (office)
713.617.7138 (pager)
ajoe@uh.edu

HOUSTON, Feb. 14, 2007 – A new quantitative method for ranking doctoral programs at research universities has placed the University of Houston’s department of finance in the Bauer College of Business among the Top 10 most productive programs in the United States.

“This is great news – but not surprising. In just five years, our faculty size has more than doubled,” said Praveen Kumar, professor of finance and department chair at Bauer College. “We’ve recruited faculty who are among the most productive and talented researchers in the field. Additionally, the work of veteran professors is being complemented by newcomers.”

Academic Analytics’ Faculty Scholarly Productivity (FSP) Index measures the scholarly productivity of faculty based on their publications, citations and financial and honorary awards. Entire programs, not individual faculty, are rated and are aggregated to produce rankings of whole universities. The FSP Index listed UH’s department of finance number eight.

“At research universities, more than 50 percent of a faculty member’s salary is compensation for scholarly work,” said Lawrence Martin, chief scientific consultant to Academic Analytics, associate provost for Analysis and Planning at Stony Brook University, and developer of the FSP Index. “One of the greatest challenges for academia has been finding a way to measure and evaluate that scholarly – as distinct from teaching – productivity. The FSP Index allows university leadership for the first time to get a clear picture of the comparative scholarly strength and vitality of their doctoral programs relative to others on an annual basis.”

In its second year of analysis, the FSP Index has expanded its data-gathering program to include information from nearly 200,000 faculty members based at 354 institutions and representing 118 academic disciplines in nearly 7,300 Ph.D. programs throughout the country. To view the finance rankings, go to http://www.academicanalytics.com/Business.pdf.

Bauer College received top scores in two categories – journal publications per faculty member and citations per faculty member.

“We’re strong in the areas of investments – such as stock prices, option prices, energy risk management, futures – and corporate issues, including governance, how corporations pay dividends and what determines the likelihood of fraud,” Kumar said. “Our research has been highly cited, given the Enron debacle, energy trading issues and the strong interest in profitable investment strategies. We intend to build upon current strengths, since the department has been recognized as a leader in these fields.”

UH’s finance department was one of only two Texas institutions on the Top 10 list in finance research productivity. The University of Texas was seventh.

About the University of Houston
The University of Houston, Texas’ premier metropolitan research and teaching institution, is home to more than 40 research centers and institutes and sponsors more than 300 partnerships with corporate, civic and governmental entities. UH, the most diverse research university in the country, stands at the forefront of education, research and service with more than 35,000 students.

About the Bauer College of Business
The C.T. Bauer College of Business has been in operation for more than 60 years at the University of Houston main campus. Through its five academic departments, the college offers a full-range of undergraduate, masters and doctoral degrees in business. The Bauer College is fully accredited by the AACSB International – the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. In August 2000, Houston business leader and philanthropist Charles T. (Ted) Bauer endowed the College of Business with a $40 million gift. In recognition of his generosity, the college was renamed the C.T. Bauer College of Business.

For more information about UH visit the university’s ‘Newsroom’ at www.uh.edu/admin/media/newsroom.