Freeman mourns the death of Professor Robert Hansen

Robert S. Hansen, Francis Martin Chair in Business and professor of finance at Tulane University’s A. B. Freeman School of Business, died unexpectedly on March 3, 2019.

Hansen joined the Freeman School in 2001 after serving 11 years as the R. B. Pamplin Professor of Finance at Virginia Tech University. He joined Virginia Tech in 1980 shortly after earning his PhD in economics from the University of Florida. Hansen also taught as a visiting professor at Vanderbilt University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Michigan and the University of Florida.

Over the course of his long career, Hansen published more than two dozen scholarly papers, almost all in the most prestigious journals in finance. He presented his research at conferences around the world and to policymakers at the National Association of Securities Dealers, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Department of Justice. He is perhaps best known for his research on initial public offerings of equity, which was part of his more general interest in the capital raising process and equity issuance. More recently, Hansen had developed a research interest in stock analysts and their forecasting activities, which led to several papers in leading journals.

While at Tulane, Hansen taught a variety of courses at both graduate and undergraduate levels and chaired more than a dozen PhD dissertations, including seven in the Freeman School’s Latin American Faculty Development PhD program. He received numerous awards for teaching and research during his career, including the Freeman School’s Irving G. Lavalle Research Award.

He is survived by family members including his wife, Oya Altinkilic.

“Rob was an outstanding scholar and a dedicated educator,” said Ira Solomon, dean of the Freeman School. “He brought robust ideas to the Freeman School, and then shared them with students, colleagues and the larger scholarly community. We are all deeply saddened by his passing.”