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Paper Weight: Impactful Faculty Research Drives Increase in Leeds’ Rankings

Exterior of the Koelbel and Rustandy buildings on the CU Boulder campus on a summer afternoon.

As research productivity soars worldwide, Leeds professors continue to enjoy outsized influence in advancing business knowledge.


Research faculty at Leeds were recognized as being among North America‘s most productive in the influential University of Texas at Dallas rankings, released April 4. 

When it comes to impact, a university’s research successes don’t always get the same attention as metrics like academic strength of a student body or alumni successes. 

But faculty research—which creates new knowledge and helps shape the direction and priorities of the business world—is just as important as how well those professors prepare students for success. 

And contributions from faculty at the Leeds School of Business continue to earn impressive recognition.

The University of Texas at Dallas’ listing of top research schools ranked Leeds No. 38 among all North American business schools, with 124 total articles published by faculty between 2018 and 2022. Leeds is the only Colorado business school to be included on the North American list; it was ranked 39 last year. 

‘Incredibly rewarding’

“It’s incredibly rewarding to be recognized by UT Dallas for the outstanding accomplishments of our faculty,” said Yonca Ertimur, acting dean of the Leeds School and Tandean Rustandy esteemed professor. 

Ertimur is heavily invested in research success at Leeds. She is a highly respected figure—especially in accounting—and holds editorial appointments at two top journals, which allows her to influence other research streams and offer useful coaching to Leeds faculty. 

“We have this incredible mix of productive younger faculty, who bring such interesting perspective on the future needs of industry, and seasoned senior faculty who guide them through the often arduous process of getting published,” she said. 

Among some of Leeds’ more interesting recent research insights: 

  • Sarah Zechman and Andrea Pawliczek shone a light on SPACs—a relatively obscure investment product—and the role reputation and disclosure play as they grow in popularity.
  • Shaun Davies researched the opacity of target-date funds—specifically, the billions of dollars in fees they charge consumers—and developed a replicating fund that outperformed TDFs when accounting for fees.
  • Research from Stefanie Johnson was honored for insights that helped NASA identify and reduce gender bias among research scientists vying for resources as part of the Hubble Space Telescope program.
  • Scott Shriver examined the future of digital privacy as targeted marketing strategies shift. With cookies going by the wayside, companies are getting more sophisticated in how they track consumers. 
  • Sabrina Volpone published a study on compassion for new mothers at work and the role culture plays in helping women find balance as they return from maternity leave.

Tony Tong, senior associate dean for faculty and research at Leeds, noted the school’s prolific research output relative to its size. The top of the rankings are dominated by much larger business schools with many more research-active faculty. 

“Our faculty’s accomplishments are not just about quantity,” Tong said. “They are also about quality. Our professors are truly creating new knowledge and putting forth thought leadership that has real consequence for the business community—and that equips our students with new skills that will help them stand out throughout their careers.”

The UT Dallas list is considered the most influential ranking of business school research, and is compiled by the university’s Naveen Jindal School of Management. The top 50 schools appear below; .

Rank University Articles Score
1 University of Pennsylvania (Wharton School) 396 204.86
2 University of Texas at Dallas (Jindal School of Management) 275 134.05
3 Columbia University (Columbia Business School) 278 130.12
4 Harvard University (Harvard Business School) 265 129.73
5 University of Southern California (Marshall School of Business) 271 127.30
6 University of Chicago (Booth School of Business) 271 126.72
7 New York University (Stern School of Business) 281 125.07
8 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan School of Management) 256 113.56
9 Indiana University at Bloomington (Kelley School of Business) 235 107.57
10 Stanford University (Graduate School of Business) 223 103.78
11 University of Michigan at Ann Arbor (Ross School of Business) 215 99.73
12 University of Texas at Austin (McCombs School of Business) 214 97.15
13 University of Minnesota at Twin Cities (Carlson School of Management) 217 95.93
14 Duke University (Fuqua School of Business) 203 93.71
15 Washington University in St. Louis (Olin School of Business) 212 93.49
16 Cornell University (SC Johnson College of Business, Johnson Graduate School of Management) 212 93.44
17 University of California at Los Angeles (Anderson School of Management) 188 86.99
18 University of Washington at Seattle (Foster School of Business) 189 86.43
19 University of Toronto (Rotman School of Management) 211 86.39
20 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Kenan-Flagler Business School) 194 86.29
21 Northwestern University (Kellogg School of Management) 184 82.01
22 University of Maryland at College Park (Smith School of Business) 195 80.96
23 Pennsylvania State University at State College (Smeal College of Business) 177 80.69
24 Ohio State University (Fisher College of Business) 186 80.09
25 Arizona State University (Carey School of Business) 181 76.44
26 Boston College (Carroll School of Management) 161 70.01
27 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Gies College of Business) 160 68.90
28 Texas A&M University at College Station (Mays School of Business) 168 68.82
29 Purdue University (Daniels School of Business, Krannert School of Management) 143 65.55
30 Boston University (Questrom School of Business) 146 63.72
31 Yale University (School of Management) 136 62.76
32 Temple University (Fox School of Business and Management) 161 62.70
33 University of California at Berkeley (Haas School of Business) 135 62.15
34 Carnegie Mellon University (Tepper School of Business) 118 60.99
35 University of Florida (Warrington College of Business) 151 56.87
36 MgGill University (Desautels Faculty of Management) 134 56.40
37 University of British Columbia (Sauder School of Business) 124 54.79
38 鶹Ƶ (Leeds School of Business) 124 53.96
39 Georgia Institute of Technology (Scheller College of Business) 118 53.77
40 Emory University (Goizueta Business School) 114 52.54
41 University of South Carolina at Columbia (Moore School of Business) 103 46.37
42 University of Wisconsin at Madison (Wisconsin School of Business) 120 46.17
43 University of Notre Dame (Mendoza College of Business) 118 45.68
44 University of Georgia (Terry College of Business) 126 45.46
45 University of Miami (School of Business Administration, Herbert Business School) 104 44.88
46 Michigan State University (Broad College of Business) 103 44.10
47 Johns Hopkins University (Carey Business School) 90 41.46
48 University of Arizona (Eller College of Management) 110 41.02
49 University of Utah (Eccles School of Business) 90 39.90
50 University of Connecticut (School of Business) 96 39.52

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