Douglas T. Breeden - Duke University's Fuqua School of Business

ences that made him confess his love for academic
research, the kind of people who made him realize the
importance of the work—and later, as Fuqua Dean, the significance
of institutions who hired the kind of men and
women who held in their intellect the potential to change
the world.
And so Fuqua now has bright minds like Wes Cohen
whose study of how patent policy and intellectual property
rights encourage research is particularly relevant among
pharmaceutical companies in the Raleigh-Durham area.
And husband-wife duo Gavan Fitzsimons and Tanya
Chartrand who delved into the unusual science of nagging,
yielding information on compliance behaviour that sheds
light on both roommates and coworkers. And Dan Ariely,
who does fundamental research in behavioural economics.
According to the Financial Times, Fuqua faculty were
ranked seventh in the world in research in 2007.
In turn, those minds have helped Breeden achieve
another goal at Fuqua that he believes is pivotal not just for
the success of a business school, but for the health of markets
and economies across the world: the growth of the doctoral
program. Not only has the number of PhD students
grown from forty-seven to more than eighty since 2001, but
Duke’s central administration reported that Fuqua students
were at the top of the list in a review of campus-wide
doctoral students’ placements at top universities.
“Great faculty attracts other great faculty, which attracts
great students and attracts those people who want to hire
from the school,” said Gerald Hassell, president of The
Bank of New York and chairman of Fuqua’s Board of
Visitors. “That’s the foundation of a great business school.”
For Breeden, the doctoral program is a chance to teach
Fuqua minds all those lessons that MBA students don’t
have time to learn in their two-year stints, an especially
exciting concept to a man for whom research serves to
inspire innovation.
“You’re really trying to expand the sphere of knowledge,
trying to break out of that ball,” Breeden said. “Faculty
always try to teach PhD students everything they know, and
then have them, through their dissertation and subsequent
research, develop new things that none of us know. Doctoral
students push us all to think our highest thoughts. That’s
what the greatest universities in the world do.”
Breeden, who is well-known for his oft-cited 1979
research on intertemporal asset pricing and consumption,
will himself return to teaching and research this fall at
Fuqua—satisfying an itch that, for great minds, can only be
relieved with the tonic of spending hours thinking deeply
through a new question. That’s a luxury that Breeden
hasn’t had as Dean. But he has plenty of ideas on tap,
including revisiting macroeconomics and asset pricing.
Colleagues say his mind is always working, so much so
that even Breeden admits that he and wife, Josie, sometimes
spend a good deal of their time talking about new
ideas. “Every day, he’s coming up with a new question that
could very easily have great impact,” said Soenksen, who
adds that he regularly receives e-mails from Breeden that
were typed at 2 a.m.
“He's always valued academic excellence. What Doug
always emphasized was that the quality of the faculty
had to be top 10. Not just in one area or two areas, but
across the board.” —S. “Vish” Viswanathan
summer 2007 19