Hello Colleagues,

Spring has arrived in Connecticut and, with it a renewed sense of excitement, growth and accomplishment both in our classrooms and through our research commitment. I would like to share with you some of our recent milestones.

Both our Management Department and our Operations and Information Management Department have ranked among the most prolific in the nation. The Management Department ranked No. 17 in the nation when the number of top-tier publications is weighed by the number of faculty, according to the Texas A&M/University of Georgia rankings of five-year totals. Meanwhile, our Operations and Information Management Department (OPIM) ranked No. 8 in the nation for contributions to premier information systems publications, according to the University of Texas at Dallas rankings. Our UConn colleagues’ relentless and enthusiastic pursuit of new knowledge is truly contagious and fosters a culture of excellence.

Among those high achievers is Finance/Real Estate Professor Jeffrey Cohen, who received the 2017 Distinguished Member Award from the Transportation and Public Utility Group of the Allied Social Sciences Association in January. The award recognizes Cohen’s research on air and ground transportation and its public impact on property values, as well as his distinguished career. Past recipients have included two Nobel laureates in economics. Accounting Professor Michael Willenborg was recently appointed editor of the prestigious journal The Accounting Review, a recognition of his outstanding research record and many contributions to the field. OPIM Professor Ram Gopal’s article “Ubiquitous IT and Digital Vulnerabilities,” published in the premier journal Information Systems Research, has just been selected as part of the INFORMS Editor’s Cut collection “Securing Information in a Digital World.” This issue of Editor’s Cut on data security illustrates the potential for the INFORMS community to help understand and improve our collective information security.

Last, but not least, congratulations to Dean John Elliott, who has been elected vice chair/chair elect of the American Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), the accrediting organization serving 800 business schools in 52 countries. I am confident that John’s tireless commitment to advancing business education will take AACSB’s mission of fostering engagement and accelerating innovation to new heights!

We hope you enjoy this semester’s Research Newsletter. You will find articles addressing diverse topics, including a new model to identify both over- and under-priced equities; whether accounting rules are harming corporate competitiveness; effective persuasion tools for virtual teammates and research into social media and crisis communication.

With best wishes,

Sulin Ba, Associate Dean of Research
The University of Connecticut School of Business