This article first appeared in the UConn School of Business Dean’s Annual Report

When professor Lingling Wang teaches finance to undergraduates, she also shares her personal investment strategy. She explains how she builds her portfolio, mitigates risk, and allocates savings for her teenagers to attend college.

“Not all of my students will be CFO of a corporation, but they will all be the CFO of their personal finances,” she said. “I want them to leave my class with knowledge that will be very useful in their lives.”

In addition to her success teaching Ph.D. candidates and undergraduates, Wang is a prolific researcher, who typically juggles six to eight projects in various stages of development. Her work has won awards at both international and national conferences and been published in leading finance and accounting journals.

‘That’s the Best Moment in Research!’

The impetus for her work stems from an early-career experience designing a data-base for consumer concerns at Sony Electronics in Miami. Wang attended many business development meetings and was captivated by some of the financial decisions that were made and the way resources were allocated.

“I always draw research ideas from what I see around me and from things that puzzle me,” she said. “When something doesn’t make sense, I love to find the missing piece. When you find the answer, that’s the best moment!”

Wang’s work focuses on corporate and behavioral finance, particularly executive compensation, culture, and social issues.

Companies Balancing War and Responsibility

One of her recent, well-regarded research projects examined how firms handle ethical dilemmas and the response from the stock market. She and her colleagues were intrigued by the pressure on U.S. firms to cease operations in Russia following that nation’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Many companies that were serving ‘essential human needs,’ manufacturing agricultural products, providing utility services, running retail pharmacies, or distributing food, opted to remain in Russia. The stock market did not punish those companies for their decisions. The results suggest that investors understand ethical dilemmas, and grant exceptions to those caught in a challenging situation. The research was the Runner-Up for Best Paper at the Loyola Financial Ethics Conference.

Wang and her colleagues also examined a new pay-inequality mandate that required U.S. firms to disclose CEO-to-employee pay ratios. They found that some companies use estimation discretion to mask pay inequality and presenting less informative disclosures. Their work highlighted the potential cost of granting discretion in mandatory ESG—environmental, social and governance— corporate reporting. The article won the Best Paper Award in Corporate Finance at the 2022 FMA European Conference.

‘The Department was Vibrant and Poised for Growth’

Wang earned her Ph.D. at Georgia State University in Atlanta and was on the faculty at Tulane University in New Orleans before joining UConn in 2016. After more than a decade of living in the South, she still gets excited when she sees the first snowfall of the year, and allows her students to take a quick break to watch the snow fall.

When she came to UConn as a faculty candidate in February, the campus was white with snow.

“I said, ‘Wow. It’s magic!’ and [finance Department Head] Chinmoy Ghosh said, ‘If you move up here you’ll realize it is more hassle than magic,’” Wang said, laughing.

“I love the four seasons here, and instantly fell in love with UConn because it is such a welcoming place,” she said. “The faculty who interviewed me had taken time to become well-versed in my research and the department was vibrant and poised for growth. I saw myself being a part of that. I’ve found my dream job!”