UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN
HONORARY CONFERRING
Thursday, 8 December 2016 at 2 pm
TEXT OF THE INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS DELIVERED BY PROFESSOR JOHN COTTER, College of Business on 8 December 2016, on the occasion of the conferring of the Degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa on MICHAEL J. BRENNAN.
President, Honoured Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen.
Today we are awarding an Honorary Doctorate to Professor Michael J. Brennan from UCLA. It is my privilege to give this citation in honour of Michael. It is a fitting tribute that UCD is awarding Michael Brennan the degree of Doctor of Laws honoris causa for all his contributions in financial economics. We are delighted that Michael is here today to accept this Honorary Doctorate.
Michael Brennan is one of the leading pioneers of the massive growth in the area of financial economics. This growth has resulted in the development of many new degrees in the discipline and the need for Faculty to provide these courses. Twenty years ago there was no stand-alone finance Master’s degree offered by UCD, now we have four separate degrees, with many of you graduating from one of these here today. Michael Brennan’s influence and contribution to this growth in the discipline is hard to fully appreciate.
Professor Brennan has a PhD in Business from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), an MBA in Business from the University of Pittsburgh, a B.Phil. in Economics and a B.A in Politics, Philosophy and Economics both from the University of Oxford. He has also been recognised with Honorary Doctorates from amongst others B.I. Business School in Oslo, London University, the University of Stockholm, and the University of Zurich.
Michael is Emeritus Professor at the Anderson Graduate School of Management at UCLA. Prior to that he was the Irwin Hearsh Professor of Money and Banking at the Anderson Graduate School of Management and Professor of Finance at London Business School. He began his academic career at the University of British Columbia where he held many posts including Assistant, Associate and Full Professor.
His research covers a number of areas including microstructure, asset pricing and corporate finance. He has published four books and almost one hundred articles in leading research journals. This work contributes to a large body of literature covering topics such as liquidity, option valuation and arbitrage. His influence filters through to the classroom when we are discussing these topics. In particular, we often cite the work of Professor Brennan and his co-authors, most notably Eduardo Schwartz, when we deliberate on option pricing and the use of real options.
Professor Brennan’s leadership and contribution to the Finance profession has been immense. Professor Brennan is a Founding Member of the Society of Financial Studies and served as Founding Editor for its flagship journal, the Review of Financial Studies. Michael has been President of the Western Finance Association. He has served as Editor for the Journal of Finance. He has made many contributions to the American Finance Association, acting as Director, Vice-President and President. He has been Director of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). These are the leading associations and publications in finance and his leadership and contributions has expanded the area enormously over recent decades.
Given Michael’s name it should be of no surprise that he has Irish connections. His Grandfather came from Drumintee in County Armagh and his Father studied Veterinary Medicine at this very University.
Michael has been a long standing friend of us here at UCD and he has visited many times over the years. Professor Brennan is extremely generous of his time, expertise and wisdom and has always been supportive to us in Banking and Finance at UCD, and to Irish Universities in general. Michael was a member of the Advisory Board of the Global Finance Academy at University College Dublin for many years. More recently he has been a very active member of the Scientific Advisory Board for the Financial Mathematics and Computation research cluster. This research cluster is a collaboration between Industry, Dublin City University, University of Maynooth, and University College Dublin with funding from Science Foundation Ireland. On his last visit he provided excellent feedback to our Doctoral Students on their research. He also delivered a very insightful public lecture on the topic of Malfeasance in Financial Markets.
I am honoured to present Michael J. Brennan for the award of an honorary degree.
Praehonorabilis Praeses, totaque Universitas,
Praesento vobis hunc meum filium, quem scio tam moribus quam doctrina habilem et idoneum esse qui admittatur, honoris causa, ad Gradum Doctoratus in utroque Jure, tam Civili quam Canonico; idque tibi fide mea testor ac spondeo, totique Academiae.