Candace Jens

Associate Professor of Finance
Candace
Candace E. Jens is an associate professor of finance at the Martin J. Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University, where she has been on faculty since 2022. She previously served as an assistant professor (2015–2022) and visiting assistant professor (2013–2015) at the A.B. Freeman School of Business at Tulane University.

Professor Jens’s primary research area is corporate finance and answers questions about how and when firms invest. Her research has explored topics such as the effects of political uncertainty on corporate investment, credit cycles and firm expectations, and the use of causal forests to study financial questions. Her work has appeared in leading journals including the Review of Financial Studies, the Journal of Financial Economics, the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Management Science and Financial Management.

Her scholarship has been recognized with several honors, including the Guttag Junior Faculty Research Fellowship Award from the Whitman School (2025), the Best Paper in Finance Award at the FMARC Conference (2024), and the Ross Prize for Best Paper in Finance Research Letters (2012). She has presented her work at major conferences such as the American Finance Association and the SFS Cavalcade and serves as a referee for numerous top finance and economics journals, including the Journal of Finance, the Review of Financial Studies and the Journal of Financial Economics.

In addition to her research, Professor Jens is an accomplished teacher, having received the Dean's Excellence in Teaching Award for Undergraduate Education at Tulane University in both 2016 and 2021. At Syracuse, she has taught financial analytics at both the undergraduate and graduate levels and a doctoral module on identification and causal inference in corporate finance. In Spring 2027, Professor Jens is teaching two new classes, including AI Text Analysis for Finance at the undergraduate and graduate levels and Using AI Tools for Academic Research at the doctoral level.

Professor Jens holds a Ph.D. in Finance and an MSBA in Applied Economics from the University of Rochester, and a B.A. in Political Science, summa cum laude, from Niagara University, where she graduated as class valedictorian.
Ph.D., Finance, University of Rochester M.S., Applied Economics, University of Rochester B.A., Political Science, Niagara University

Publications

  • Jan 01, 2025

    Received - Guttag Junior Faculty Research Fellowship Award

    Martin J. Whitman School of Management
  • Jun 30, 2020

    Received - Dean's Excellence in Teaching Award for Undergraduate Education, 2021

    Tulane University
  • Jun 30, 2016

    Received - Dean’s Excellence in Teaching Award for Undergraduate Education, 2016

    Tulane University
  • Dec 31, 2012

    Received - Ross Prize for the Best Paper in Finance Research Letters

    Finance Research Letters
  • Aug 01, 2012

    Received - William E. Simon School Teaching Honor Roll

    William E. Simon School, University of Rochester

  • Received - Best Paper in Finance Award

    Financial Management & Accounting Research Conference

  • Here’s the true economic cost of the uncertainty created by the Alaska Legislature

    February 18, 2018 Anchorage Daily News

  • Uncertainty as a Factor in Investment Decisions : The Case of the Russian Federation's Regions

    September 12, 2016 World Bank

  • August 04, 2016 American Enterprise Institute

  • Uncertainty as a Factor in Investment Decisions

    August 01, 2016 World Bank

  • Fixing Broken Budget Process and Restoring Stability to Government Operations

    April 20, 2016 American Enterprise Institute