Business Spotlight: Professor Stays Knee-Deep in Research

If you happen by the office of Professor Rebecca Abraham on the fifth floor of the H. Wayne Huizenga College of Business and Entrepreneurship and her door is cracked, you’ll likely find her behind a desk immersed in papers. At first glance, she might seem a bit overwhelmed, but don’t mistake her paperwork for clutter – Abraham is in her element.

You see, Abraham, D.B.A., a finance professor at Nova Southeastern University, prides herself in research and publishing, and she does so extensively.

Besides authoring some book chapters, Abraham’s research publications have appeared in the Review of Accounting and Finance, Journal of Economic Studies, Journal of Business and Leadership, International Journal of Finance, Applied Economics Letter, and the Journal of Risk and Financial Management.

“Research is the creation of knowledge,” she said, adding that her work has appeared in the fields of international economics, mathematical finance, and international finance. “Our economy can only advance over time if we find new ways of doing things, evaluate and retain the best of existing products and procedures.”

The daughter of a dean, Abraham attended a boarding school in southern India that was run by British missionaries. It was there that she took her initial interest in math, which would later become the basis of her research in financial mathematics. She also took an interested in teaching and researching economic and financial issues. Among the courses she teaches at NSU are Banking and Financial Institutions and Advanced Financial Management.

Abraham moved from Kerala, India, to California in 1986, where she attended Alliant International University in San Diego, Calif. There she received her Doctorate and Master’s in Business Administration. Soon after she settled in South Florida, where Abraham has lived in Fort Lauderdale for the past 33 years.

“I’ve always admired the level of freedom enjoyed by Americans, and the high degree of openness to new ideas here,” she said.

Abraham joined the Farquhar Center at NSU in the Fall of 1989, where she began teaching undergraduates and graduates such courses as corporate finance, investments, portfolio theory, financial management, business strategy and policy, and quantitative methods. When NSU’s undergraduate business program merged with its graduate business program in 2001, Abraham transitioned to the College of Business and Entrepreneurship.

In recognition of her exemplary work, she earned the first Farquhar Center Award for Teaching Excellence in 2000, and the Teacher of the Year Award from the business college in 2006.

During her years in higher education, Abraham says NSU has been a good fit because of its “emphasis on practice.” Abraham says her students and the lifelong friendships she has established with many who have gone on to graduate have helped solidify NSU as her home.

NSU’s “innovative delivery of instruction” also has been important, Abraham says.

“Education is offered days, evenings, weekends, and in clusters, where the faculty travel to corporate sites to deliver instruction,” she said. “Such flexibility is more common now, but wasn’t in the past.”

Abraham says the university’s overall approach to education has helped her balance her passion for teaching with her passion for research collaborations. which extend as far as India, Bangladesh, Alaska, Wisconsin, and South Africa.

And when she not immersed in teaching and research?

“I enjoy reading classics,” Abraham said.

Posted 07/18/22