People and Places: March 8, 2023
Article
Transitions
 Michael Mazzeo has been named the next dean of the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis. He currently is a professor of strategy at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management in Evanston, Illinois. Mazzeo was the senior associate dean of curriculum and teaching at Kellogg from 2017 to 2020 and faculty director of the school’s evening and weekend MBA and master’s in management studies programs. He also oversaw a data analytics unit that provided insights in areas that ranged from faculty hiring to reputation to student career outcomes. He will assume Olin’s deanship on January 1, 2024. (Photo by Doug Birkenheuer/WUSTL) |
 Rashmi Assudani will become dean of Siena College’s School of Business in Loudonville, New York, on July 1. Assudani is currently associate provost of academic affairs at Xavier University in Cincinnati, a position she has held since 2020. In that role, she manages faculty teaching and research, student experiential learning, assessment, accreditation, and nontraditional adult student programming. She also co-chairs Xavier’s strategic plan on behalf of the president. Assudani previously was a professor of management and entrepreneurship at Xavier and served consecutive terms as department chair. As dean, Assudani succeeds Charles Seifert, who will become president of Siena on June 1. Accounting professor Katherine J. Silvester has been serving as interim dean since August 2022. |
 In January, Jean-Francois Coget became the new dean of the College of Business at Sacramento State University in California. He most recently served as dean of the Sonoma State School of Business and Economics in California, where he revised the school’s mission and strategic plan; developed a strategy for diversity, equity, and inclusion; led a successful five-year AACSB reaccreditation effort; launched a new focus on purpose-driven business; and raised millions in scholarships for students from underrepresented populations. He also created a mentorship program for first-generation students and replaced the Graduate Management Admissions Test requirement for MBA programs with essays and interviews to make the school more accessible to underrepresented groups. Prior to his time at Sonoma State, Coget held various leadership positions at Cal Poly’s Orfalea College of Business in San Luis Obispo, where he also held a professorship in management. |
 Jeffrey Stinson will be the next dean of the George Dean Johnson Jr. College of Business and Economics (JCBE) at the University of South Carolina–Upstate in Spartanburg. He will start his new role on July 1. Since 2019, Stinson has been dean of the College of Business at Central Washington University (CWU) in Ellensburg, which offers programs across seven physical locations and online. Prior to joining CWU, Stinson served on the faculty at North Dakota State University in Fargo. At the JCBE, he will lead the college in addressing the needs of the business community, such as developing talent and promoting engagement with international corporations. |
 Saonee Sarker has been named dean of the Pamplin College of Business at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. On July 1, she will take over from Roberta “Robin” Russell, who has served as interim dean since July 2022. Sarker has been a professor in the department of informatics in the School of Economics and Management at Lund University in Sweden since 2021. She is also a visiting professor in the Department of Management at the London School of Economics. Between 2013 and 2021, Sarker was at the University of Virginia McIntire School of Commerce in Charlottesville, where she held many roles, including senior associate dean for academic affairs, area coordinator of IT, Rolls Royce Commonwealth Commerce Professor, and professor of IT. Outside of the university setting, she is director of diversity, equity, and inclusion for MIS Quarterly and senior editor of the Journal of the Association for Information Systems. |
 In January, Julie Coonrod began her term as interim dean for the Anderson School of Management at the University of New Mexico (UNM) in Albuquerque. Coonrod has been with UNM for 26 years, has been graduate dean for 10 years, and has served on the Dean’s Council and in the Office of Academic Affairs. In 2022, she was on special assignment as an ACE Fellow working in the president’s office at the University of Maryland in College Park. At UNM, she replaces former dean Mitzi Montoya, who has become senior vice president for academic affairs and provost at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. |
Frank Bournois has been appointed vice president and dean of China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) in Shanghai. Bournois has served as executive president and dean of ESCP Business School since 2014. Prior to that, he was a professor of management at the University of Lyon III and the University of Paris, Panthéon-Assas. Bournois will begin his new role on April 1, taking over from Ding Yuan, who has served for eight years as dean.
New ProgramsStarting in spring 2024, the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business in College Park will offer a new track in climate finance to students in the Master of Finance and Master of Quantitative Finance programs. In the four new electives of the track, students will learn how to use climate modeling and analytics tools to assess climate change financial risks, how to navigate accounting rules around climate and carbon disclosures, and how to value companies and assets based on their exposure to climate-related risks. Students also will have opportunities to engage with corporate or government sponsors on consulting projects related to climate finance and risk management. FIU Business at Florida International University in Miami has launched a microcredential called Developing International Competence for Future Business Leaders. The goal is to help students develop cultural self-awareness and learn how to create supportive work environments. The microcredential consists of five online modules that cover cognitive, affective, and behavioral modalities; one segment looks at how companies are addressing diversity issues and explores why cultural competence is an important workplace skill. Students who complete the program, which is open to all FIU students, will be eligible for a 1,000 USD scholarship. CollaborationsThe University of Mannheim in Germany is launching a double degree program in partnership with Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali (LUISS) in Rome. Students in the program can acquire a Master in Management from Mannheim as well as a Master in Strategic Management from LUISS. Courses will focus on topics such as sustainability and the green economy. The new double degree program is offered within the framework of ENGAGE.EU, an alliance of European universities focusing on business, economics, and the social sciences. IESE Business School in Barcelona has joined forces with the MIT Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge to create the Global CEO Program. The seven-month executive program begins in October 2023 with a residential module taught at the MIT Sloan School that will cover expanding a company’s global footprint, building cross-cultural organizations, and structuring corporate governance. The second module, taught in Singapore in January 2024, will explore issues such as doing business in Asia and managing digital transformation. The final module takes place at IESE’s campus in Barcelona in May 2024 and addresses matters such as how to achieve profitable growth in an uncertain environment and how to rethink innovation processes. NHH Norwegian School of Economics in Bergen has launched a new course called Internship in Asset Management in partnership with Finance Norway, the industry body for the Norwegian financial sector. The course is open to all master’s students at NHH, regardless of specialization. Students will participate in an integrated five-week internship and attend lectures delivered by leading asset management firms. The program was developed with support from the Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global. Grants and DonationsThe New York University Stern School of Business has received 53.6 million USD, the largest gift in the school’s history, from alumna Anne E. Tasca. The money will go primarily toward funding student scholarships, with a special focus on global study and immersive travel. Among the annual scholarships will be four that are named after Tasca; two will be in the master’s program and two in the undergraduate program. The donation also will endow a faculty chair in the name of the donor’s father, economist and American diplomat Henry J. Tasca. Anne Tasca leads the family’s real estate firm, Edilizia Rosazza SRL, in Rome, with her sister. Other NewsPittsburg State University in Kansas is launching Gorilla Rising, which is designed to expand the school’s presence in a local mixed-use business district known as Block22. A new building for the Kelce College of Business will become the anchor of the expansion, and the university also will partner with local businesses to share space in neighboring buildings. The project is expected to cost approximately 50 million USD; the portion for the Kelce College of Business is estimated at 34 million USD, and 7 million USD of that has already been contributed by donors. If you have news of interest to share with the business education community, please send press releases, relevant images, or other information to AACSB Insights at [email protected]. |
Article
Article
Article