After graduating in 1976, Van Nunen started his academic career in Eindhoven as associate professor. In 1978 he was visiting professor at North Carolina State University in the US for one year. In 1984 he was appointed professor at the Interuniversity Institute of Business Administration in Delft. In the late 1980s this institute was merged into the Erasmus University Rotterdam, and is now Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University. Among his PhD students was Walther Ploos van Amstel.
