Several of the Leon Hess Business School’s (LHBS) faculty have received various distinctions throughout this semester for their commitment to quality research and, ultimately, their students.
Robert H. Scott III, Ph.D., Professor for the Department of Economics, Finance, and Real Estate, was named the Arthur and Dorothy Greenbaum/Robert Ferguson/NJAR Endowed Chair in Real Estate Policy on Monday, Nov. 14.
According to the position description, the duty of the Endowed Chair in Real Estate Policy is “to enhance impact and recognition of the School locally and regionally through scholarship related to regional needs for sustainable growth, quality real estate research, and policy.”
In addition to his teaching responsibilities, Scott has published two books with Palgrave, over 20 peer-reviewed journal articles, and over 30 other scholarly artifacts.
With his research background, one of Scott’s goals as chair is to establish a formal research agenda to the real estate program. “Adding an academic research component to the real estate program is important because it does not currently have a research agenda,” said Scott. “There are many interesting topics to work with students on, such as affordable housing, shore towns adapting to climate change, and evaluating the fairness of mortgage lending.”
The LHBS accrediting agency, The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), emphasizes the importance of high-quality academic research and the value of its societal impact. “My focus on social public policy issues, writing op-eds, and community engagement are examples of my commitment to extending my research beyond academia,” explained Scott.
According to Scott, greater research opportunities will enable students to leverage their portfolio of skills while at Monmouth and beyond. “Having served on the Honors School Council for many years, I know how important it is to engage students in quality research projects so that they can learn proper research methods and techniques,” started Scott.
Scott co-authored a paper with MBA alumnus, Steven Bloom, which uses national panel data to study the effects of student loan debt on first-time home buyers in the United States. They presented a draft of our paper at the Eastern Economic Association Meeting in New York, and it was published this year in the peer-reviewed International Journal of Housing Markets and Analysis.
Joseph Rocereto, Ph.D., Professor for the Department of Marketing and International Business, was recently awarded a “best reviewer” designation from the International Journal of Advertising for his work as a peer reviewer for a range of academic journals.
Similar to Scott, Rocereto elaborated how a professor’s research lends itself to providing greater opportunities for students in the classroom.
Rocereto expanded, “One of the primary roles of a university professor is to engage in the creation of new knowledge via conducting and publishing primary research studies…Serving as a peer reviewer for respected academic journals is vitally important to the publication and dissemination process that is required to share new knowledge with multiple stakeholders.”
“It is extremely important for students to be aware of the research accomplishments on the part of their professors. Our research accomplishments allow us to bring new knowledge into our classrooms and share it with our students. In other words, faculty research is directly related to added value in the classroom for our students.”
Tjeerd Boonman, Ph.D., Specialist Professor of Finance and Economics, won the Best Paper Award during the Northeast Business & Economics Association (NBEA) annual 2022 conference from Nov. 10-12. This conference is attended by academics from public and private universities all over the northeast, extending from Maine to Maryland. This years’ conference was attended by approximately 100 participants and took place in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
Out of about 100 papers submitted, Boonman received this honor via a certificate and cash award for his paper, “Drivers of U.S. REIT Returns and its Volatility: A Bayesian Model Averaging Approach,” which was co-authored with Vivek Sah, Ph.D.
Boonman described the premise of his paper. “The paper is about Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), which is considered a hybrid asset class, as it combines features from shares and real estate investments. There is no consensus in the literature on what drives the returns (and the volatility of the returns) of REITs. We use the Bayesian Model Averaging technique to identify the most robust drivers for 40 U.S. Office REITs in the period 2001-2019.”
“Our main findings are that returns are driven by domestic (macro-economic, financial) and sector drivers, rather than REIT-specific drivers, while the volatility of the returns is mainly driven by REIT-specific factors,” he said.
Boonman said that the results may be useful for investors to take better investment decisions or implement risk-mitigating strategies.
“It is a great honor to receive this award because of how many were submitted and that the best paper is subjected to a double-blind review. So, winning this award from peers is really very special. My co-author and I have been working on this project since the spring of 2021, and to see our hard work be considered as the best paper is a great acknowledgement,” concluded Boonman.
Raj Devasagayam, Ph.D., Dean of the Leon Hess Business School, voiced his pride over his faculty’s accomplishments, “The LHBS faculty is committed to providing personalized education as proven experts in their fields. The impact of our faculty is felt in our classrooms, on our campus, and the academic community beyond our campus. I am delighted to serve alongside excellent faculty that are devoted to our student learning.”
