People and Places: August 8, 2023
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On August 21, Denise M. Rotondo becomes dean of the McColl School of Business at Queens University of Charlotte in North Carolina. Rotondo most recently served as dean of the Wehle School of Business at Canisius College in Buffalo, New York. She also has held leadership positions at Meredith College in Raleigh, North Carolina, and the State University of New York in Geneseo. Along with her leadership roles, Rotondo has had a long faculty career as a professor of management. At Queens, she will play a key role in the school’s vision for the future.
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  Syracuse University in New York has announced a new leadership structure for the Martin J. Whitman School of Management. Alexander McKelvie (left), who has been interim dean since July 2022, will continue in that role but will report to a new executive dean, J. Michael Haynie. Haynie, who is currently the vice chancellor for strategic initiatives and innovation, has been a member of the Whitman faculty for 16 years; he is also University Professor and the Barnes Professor of Entrepreneurship. McKelvie, who joined Syracuse more than 15 years ago, was associate dean for undergraduate and master’s education and professor of entrepreneurship before he became interim dean. The search for Whitman’s next dean will resume in late 2024. |
 Georgette Chapman Phillips, the Kevin L. and Lisa A. Clayton Dean of the College of Business at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, has announced she will retire in June 2024 after serving two five-year appointments as dean. During her tenure, the school enhanced the undergraduate and graduate curricula by adding new majors and minors, new programs, and a joint MBA/MPH with Lehigh’s College of Health. It also expanded the number of business faculty from 79 to 97. Phillips oversaw the opening of the Business Innovation Building, as well as the Lehigh Ventures Lab, which was created with the university’s Baker Institute. She is a professor in both the Perella Department of Finance in the College of Business and in the Africana Studies Program in the College of Arts and Sciences. Before joining Lehigh, Phillips served 22 years as a faculty member and administrator at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
Honors and AwardsTwo Texas business schools were recognized for their communications efforts in the 2023 Communicator Awards. Baylor University’s Hankamer School of Business in Waco received two awards of excellence and two awards of distinction for the fall 2022 issue of its Baylor Business Review publication. The school also received an award of excellence for its podcast, “Innovative Business,” which highlights research conducted by faculty at the Hankamer School. The Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University in Houston also won an award of excellence for its podcast, “Owl Have You Know,” which shares the experiences of alumni, faculty, students, and members of the business community. New ProgramsThe University of Chicago Booth School of Business has announced it will launch a 10-month Master of Management program in fall 2024. The new program is aimed at recent college graduates who studied humanities, arts, social sciences, biological sciences, or physical sciences and now want to obtain business-oriented skills. Students learn business fundamentals through required courses in microeconomics, accounting, decision modeling, data analytics, and behavioral foundations of management. They also choose four classes in a study area such as analytics, entrepreneurship, finance, marketing, or strategic management; and they select one elective. It is Booth’s first new degree program in 88 years. GBSB Global Business School, headquartered in Barcelona, has launched its redesigned MBA program aimed at responsible global leaders. The curriculum combines traditional modules on economics, corporate strategy, and financial planning with classes that cover workforce diversity, sustainability, and technological disruption. Students can specialize in emerging areas by choosing electives in artificial intelligence, sustainability and governance, and the consumer experience in the digital environment. In addition to participating in case studies, situational analysis, simulation games, and hands-on classes, students work on practical projects that run throughout the entire program. Starting this fall, the School of Business Administration at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington, will offer two new master’s programs. The Master of Science in Business Analytics, which builds on recent analytics efforts at the undergraduate level, will have one track in business administration and one in accounting. The new Online MBA will turn the school’s traditional MBA into a convenient, asynchronous format. The University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business in College Park has added three new focus areas to its Master of Science in Information Systems (MSIS): artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and emerging technologies. The new focus areas are designed to provide students with the skills to use information technologies to solve complex business problems. The school also is adding a January 2024 cohort start date for the program as a way to offer more scheduling flexibility for candidates, including those who have just earned three- or four-year undergraduate degrees. The MSIS is a STEM-designated, in-person program. CollaborationsDurham University in the U.K. is partnering with the U.K. government to support economic research designed to inform policy. The Durham Research in Economic Analysis and Mechanisms (DREAM) research center and the university’s department of economics will work with the Microeconomics Unit within the government’s Competition and Markets Authority. The partners will focus on industrial organization, regulatory initiatives, and consumer behavior in markets as they search for opportunities to collaborate on research and make a positive impact on society. The partnership aims to develop a more diverse pipeline of economists within northeast England and beyond. This fall, St. Mary’s University in San Antonio launches its BBA in Business and Law, a collaborative major created by the Greehey School of Business and the School of Law. The program is designed to appeal to students pursuing professions that require both a broad business knowledge and an understanding of the legal environment. Business students will have the opportunity to take between five and 15 hours of courses in the School of Law. Grants and DonationsBMO Financial Group has donated 1.5 million CAN to the Institute for Gender and the Economy (GATE) at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management. The money will support GATE’s research agenda, including a global collaboration on the care economy and studies of behavioral interventions to create inclusive organizations. The gift also will provide funding for the newly renamed BMO GATE MBA Fellowships, which issue a bursary each year for five Rotman students to work on projects related to the mandate of GATE. The Miami Herbert Business School at the University of Miami has received a significant gift from social media influencer Alix Earle. The money will provide scholarships to juniors and seniors at the business school. Earle, who graduated in May with a BBA in marketing, has more than 5 million followers on TikTok and more than 2 million on Instagram. She credits what she learned in the BBA program—particularly a marketing class that explored the analytics and data behind social media posts—with playing a pivotal role in shaping her entrepreneurial success. FacilitiesIn June, Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green broke ground for a state-of-the-art building to house the Gordon Ford College of Business. The 113,000-square-foot facility will feature a flexible, open-space interior that includes a virtual reality simulation lab, Bloomberg trading terminals, a Student Success Center, and a Center for Financial Success. In addition to supporting growth in student enrollments, the new space will foster stronger relationships with the business community by offering training, credentialing, and networking opportunities. Funding for the new building included 74.4 million USD from Kentucky’s 2022–24 state budget. It is expected to be finished by fall 2025. Other NewsThe Knauss School of Business at the University of San Diego has received an official STEM designation for three concentrations in its full-time MBA: business analytics, finance, and supply chain management. The news comes one year after the school revamped its MBA curriculum to emphasize social impact and emerging business trends. The school’s Master of Science in Business Analytics and Master of Science in Finance are also STEM-designated programs. 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]. |
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