Jay R. Ritter

Ritter named UF Research Foundation Professor

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Joe B. Cordell Eminent Scholar Chair Dr. Jay Ritter was awarded a professorship by the University of Florida Research Foundation for 2012-2015.

Dr. Ritter was one of 33 UF faculty members to earn the coveted distinction. UFRF professorships are awarded to tenured faculty members who have exhibited a distinguished current record of research that places them among the leaders in their discipline. Candidates whose accomplishments are measured over a five-year period, also must demonstrate an active current research program that is likely to lead to continuing distinction in their field. Candidates, who are nominated by their Department Chairs, are judged on criteria such as publication in leading scholarly journals in the field, monographs or other scholarly works, citation analysis, awards in their field, evidence of consistent external funding and evidence of development of intellectual property.

The professorship includes a $5,000 annual salary supplement and a one-time $3,000 grant.

Dr. Ritter’s research focuses on Initial Public Offerings (IPO), and he is one of the world’s authorities on the subject. Among his recent honors, Dr. Ritter earned first place in the Jensen Prizes for Best Paper in the Corporate Finance and Organizations area for his submission, “The marketing of seasoned equity offerings,” which was published in the July 2010 issue of The Journal of Financial Economics. Dr. Ritter co-authored the article with Dr. Xiaohui Gao, who earned her Ph.D. in Finance from the Warrington College of Business Administration in 2008, and is currently an assistant professor on the Faculty of Business and Economics at the University of Hong Kong. Dr. Ritter was also named a co-recipient of the William F. Sharpe Award for his work “Testing Theories of Capital Structure and Estimating the Speed of Adjustment.” He shared the honor with Dr. Rongbing Huang, who earned his Ph.D. in Finance at the University of Florida and is now an assistant professor of finance at Kennesaw State University (Ga.).

Dr. Ritter teaches corporate finance at the undergraduate, M.B.A. and Ph.D. levels. He has previously served on the faculties of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, the University of Michigan, the University of Illinois and was a visiting professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management.