People and Places: September 26, 2023
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 Regis University in Denver has named Madhu T. Rao the next academic dean of the Anderson College of Business and Computing, effective January 1, 2024. Rao has been the associate dean of the Albers School of Business and Economics at Seattle University since 2016. Rao, a professor of information systems, also is an expert in global IT management and the control and coordination of dispersed teams. His current research relates to the challenges facing higher education, and his teaching focuses on the management of information technology. He was named the Albers Beta Gamma Sigma Professor of the Year in 2009 and 2015. At the Anderson College, Rao will succeed founding dean Shari Plantz-Masters, who will remain on faculty. |
 On September 15, Jennifer Mueller-Phillips became interim dean for the Harbert College of Business at Auburn University in Alabama. Mueller-Phillips has 20 years of experience as a faculty member and administrator in roles such as KPMG professor and associate dean for academic affairs. She has overseen several of the college’s strategic efforts to enhance student success and improve its rankings, including advancing its campuswide entrepreneurship initiatives, expanding global programs, strengthening student recruitment and placement, and growing the school’s 1.5 million USD scholarship program. In addition, Mueller-Phillips successfully guided the college through its AACSB accreditation review in 2022. She takes over from Joe Hanna, who returned to the faculty after serving as interim dean since April 2022. |
 In August, Roxanne Stevens began serving in her new role as dean of the School of Business at Augustana University in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Most recently, Stevens served as an undergraduate and graduate faculty member, program chair, and interim dean at Azusa Pacific University in California. Previously, she worked in both the public and private sector for 20 years, holding management positions in various industries. In her new role, she will work on short- and long-term plans for the School of Business that include growth initiatives, community partnerships, and student engagement opportunities. Stevens succeeds Marcia Entwistle, who served for two years as the inaugural dean of the School of Business and who will continue her role as a faculty member there.
New ProgramsThe University of Evansville in Indiana has introduced Degrees in 3, accelerated degree plans that allow students to complete bachelor’s degrees in three years. Degrees in 3 are available in several majors, including business disciplines such as accounting, finance, global business, management, marketing, and logistics and supply chain management. The shortened degree plans place a strong emphasis on career preparation, and many provide students with opportunities to study abroad and complete internships. Some degree plans require students to bring in college or advanced placement credit, complete summer courses, and take full course loads each semester. This fall, Luiss Business School, headquartered in Rome, is launching two new master’s degrees designed to prepare students for the burgeoning space industry. The degree in space business management is aimed at specialized professionals who want to become top executives in space-oriented businesses, while the degree in space entrepreneurship is geared toward individuals who want to launch or grow companies related to the space industry. The curriculum includes overviews of international relations and space laws, the current state of the space industry, overviews of engineering and accounting in the space industry, and general graduate business courses. Among the companies supporting the two programs are the European Space Agency and the Italian aerospace company Leonardo. The new programs will be rolled out at the school’s location in Amsterdam. Beginning in the spring semester, the Gary W. Rollins College of Business at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga will offer an online Master of Science in Management. The new program will provide personal career coaching and instruction on organizational planning, leadership dynamics, decision-making, business ethics, communication, and other essential management skills. Full-time students can complete the degree in one year, while part-time students are expected to finish it within six semesters. The school will offer one start date in the fall, one in the spring, and two in the summer. In September, the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin began offering an online Sustainability Leadership Program designed for business professionals with at least 10 years of work experience. The program, which comes in nine-month and 12-month versions, is aimed at executives who want to incorporate sustainability into their businesses, managers who want to become chief sustainability officers, and nonprofit professionals who want to improve their executive skills. Classes will cover topics such as climate action and board communication. The program culminates in a capstone project where participants apply their learnings to their organizations. Starting this fall, the Muma College of Business at the University of South Florida (USF) in Tampa will integrate the Bellini Certification Program into its undergraduate business curriculum. The four-level program develops students’ foundational skills in areas such as communicating, critical thinking, problem-solving, and networking. Students also gain real-world experience by participating in internships. The certification program is part of the overall goal of the Bellini Center for Talent Development, which opened in March 2022 as the result of a major gift from USF alumni Arnie and Lauren Bellini. The Bellini Center offers employer-led workshops, résumé development, interview coaching, career-focused events, and other opportunities designed to help students find employment. CollaborationsThe Stern School of Business at New York University is collaborating with NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) to launch Stern at NYUAD, a one-year full-time MBA program. The 54-credit program includes experiential internship projects, modules designed to provide hands-on learning experiences, and opportunities to hear from business leaders based in the United Arab Emirates and elsewhere around the globe. The program, which welcomes its inaugural class in January 2025, will hold spring and fall modules in Abu Dhabi and summer modules in New York City. The inaugural dean of the new program will be Robert Salomon, who has been a professor of management at Stern since 2005. Students who successfully complete the one-year MBA will receive a New York University degree jointly conferred by the two schools. The University of Tennessee in Knoxville has introduced the Transportation and Logistics Collaborative (TLC) to bolster the understanding of how transportation systems, policies, and industry interact. The TLC is an initiative of the Global Supply Chain Institute at UT’s Haslam College of Business. Initially steering the collaborative will be at least eight full-time faculty, who have combined expertise in transportation policy, sustainability, transportation safety, international logistics, transportation analysis, and last-mile delivery. Members of the TLC have already advised the governor’s office of Tennessee and are collaborating with the American Ground Transportation Association to improve ground transportation around the nation’s airports. A few months after announcing a joint Bachelor’s in Management and Tech Design, IÉSEG School of Management in France and creative arts school RUBIKA have announced that they are strengthening their collaboration. Their new global partnership agreement will allow them to carry out joint teaching and research activities, support the entrepreneurial projects of students and graduates from both institutions, and share best practices to improve the student experience. Among other projects, the schools have created “3 Days to Launch a Business” workshops designed to help students and graduates test the coherence and viability of their ideas with the aid of business creation experts. Faculty from the two schools also plan to work together on research around the topics of gamification, creative teamwork, and ideation. Grants and DonationsThe Kogod School of Business at American University in Washington, D.C., has received a 15 million USD gift from school namesake Robert Kogod and his wife, Arlene. The contribution, the largest in the school’s history, will establish three endowed departmental chairs. Valentina Bruno will be appointed the Kogod Eminent Scholar Chair in Finance, and Sonya Grier will hold the position of Kogod Eminent Scholar Chair in Marketing. Both are current faculty members at the school. The Eminent Scholar Chair in Sustainability, which will be a joint appointment in the Kogod School of Business and the School of Public Affairs, will be identified later through a national search. The Robins School of Business at the University of Richmond in Virginia has received a 10 million USD gift that will establish an endowed scholarship fund. The donor, an anonymous alumnus, worked his way through college and gave the donation to make education affordable to other students of limited means. The School of Business Administration at the University of Mississippi in University is using a 5 million USD gift from alumni George Walker and Christie Kirkland Walker to establish an endowment for faculty support in the department of finance. The gift will create two endowed chair positions and provide salary supplements, research support, and creative resources for specially selected professors in real estate or finance. George Walker is CEO of Heritage Properties, and Christie Walker is also involved in the business. The College of Business at Florida International University in Miami has received a 1.25 million USD gift from freight payment platform PayCargo, which will be used to create the PayCargo Supply Chain and Logistics Program. The gift will allow FIU Business to expand student recruitment and career readiness opportunities through fellowships and internships, a speaker series, and company visits. The school also will use the gift to support faculty participation in international conferences and enable scholars to develop deeper connections with other logistics and supply chain researchers. Other NewsAs part of its efforts to expand financial aid, Washington University in St. Louis has adopted a “no-loan” financial aid policy for all undergraduates, effective fall 2024. As part of the policy, need-based loans for undergraduate students will be removed from all financial aid packages and replaced with scholarships and university grants. The school’s previous financial aid initiatives include the WashU Pledge, which provides a full undergraduate education to students in Missouri and southern Illinois with annual family incomes of 75,000 USD or less; and a shift to need-blind admissions in 2021, a move made possible by the university’s 1 billion USD investment in its Gateway to Success initiative. 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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