People and Places: May 4, 2021

Transitions

In June, Lee Newman will begin his tenure as dean of IE Business School in Madrid, succeeding Martin Boehm. Newman joined IE University in 2009, and the following year he became the founding dean of the school currently known as the IE School of Human Sciences & Technology. There he oversaw the development of 12 master’s and five bachelor’s degrees in subjects ranging from business analytics to digital transformation. Prior to joining IE, Newman served as engagement manager with McKinsey & Company. He has also founded two successful technology startups.

Christopher Johnson has been named the next dean of the Richards College of Business at the University of West Georgia in Carrollton. Johnson, who is currently associate dean at the Coggin College of Business at the University of North Florida, will take on his new role July 1. He will serve as dean during the inaugural academic year for Roy Richards Sr. Hall, the new home for the Richards College of Business. The building is currently under construction.

Michael L. DeVaughn will be the new dean of the Robert B. Pamplin Jr. School of Business at the University of Portland in Oregon. His appointment is effective July 1. DeVaughn succeeds Robin Anderson, who retired in June 2020, and interim dean Gary Malecha, the university’s Tyson Distinguished Professor. He is the first African American dean of the business school. He joins the university from the Opus College of Business at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis, where he has been on the faculty since 2008. He also served as the faculty director of the MBA program and research fellow in the Schulze School of Entrepreneurship.

The Smith School of Business at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, has appointed Tahmena Bokhari as the school’s director of equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI). In this newly created role, Bokhari will lead the implementation and progress of Smith’s EDII Strategy and Action Plan and work closely with administrators to advance diversity and a culture of inclusion at Smith. Bokhari has more than 20 years of experience leading organizational change and providing strategic guidance to leaders and teams to enhance and advance positive EDI behaviors and best practices.

Honors and Awards

The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS), an international association for professionals in operations research and analytics, has awarded its 2021 UPS George D. Smith Prize to the department of business analytics at the University of Iowa’s Tippie College of Business in Iowa City. Tippie College was recognized for the expansion of its business analytics programs for students at all levels, including a business analytics and information systems (BAIS) undergraduate major, new certificate and master’s programs, and a doctoral program. INFORMS specifically referenced analytics-based capstone projects that all students at the undergraduate and master’s level complete for companies. Enrollments in the school’s BAIS major have grown from 100 students in the 2013–2014 academic year to nearly 500 students in 2019–2020.

New Programs

Husson University in Bangor, Maine, has announced the creation of a Bachelor of Science degree in extended reality (XR), which will enroll its first class in the fall of 2021. Through the program, students will learn the design, programming, and technology behind virtual and augmented reality applications. Students will be working extensively in the new iEX Center in Harold Alfond Hall, the soon-to-be-completed building that will house Husson University’s College of Business.

Collaborations

emlyon business school in France and St. Xavier’s College in Mumbai have signed an agreement that will allow emlyon to have its own space within St. Xavier’s College and give students from emlyon access to the whole range of facilities on the Mumbai campus. Initially, the pedagogical platform will serve 250 Indo-French students.

The University of Connecticut (UConn) and AT&T are partnering to bring Multi-access Edge Computer (MEC) technology to the Stamford campus. The collaboration will apply 5G capabilities to bolster the UConn Stamford Data Science Initiative, which includes a startup studio, a technology incubation program, and a data science research faculty.

The nonprofit Collegiate Entrepreneurs’ Organization is partnering with software company Harness to create an online support network for college students starting new ventures. CEO chapters that launch Harness will benefit from custom-branded online communities featuring student business profiles that students can use to connect with mentors, investors, and advisors.

New Centers and Facilities

This fall, Durham University in the U.K. will open the Hazan Venture Lab, a specialized space where entrepreneurs can work on significant problems faced by society and industry. The lab will offer workshops, networking opportunities, pitch competitions, and mentorship. It also will be home to the new Durham Venture School, a pre-accelerator program that enables graduates to work directly with alumni mentors as they create startups. The lab was made possible by a 500,000 GBP (about 686,000 USD) donation from alum Jonathan Hazan, whose healthcare startup Datix is widely used by the U.K.’s National Health Service.

New Research and Projects

The European University Association (EUA) has launched the latest edition of its Public Funding Observatory, which offers up-to-date information on 32 higher education systems across Europe. The data is available in a report and an online interactive tool, as well as individual country reports. The newest report, which analyzes long-term funding trends captured between the years 2008 and 2019, finds that the steady recovery seen since the global economic crisis has been endangered by the pandemic-related economic downturn. The new report also offers an overview of the latest public funding developments in 2019 and 2020 and focuses on the new phase of EU funding, which will unfold between 2021 and 2027.

The University of Victoria in British Columbia is partnering with the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions (PICS) on a project aimed at encouraging the finance and investment sector to support the transition to a climate-friendly, low-carbon economy. The three-year project, supported by 180,000 CAN (approximately 146,400 USD) from PICS, is led by the UVic Peter B. Gustavson School of Business in partnership with PICS and the British Columbia Investment Management Corporation. The project partners will co-develop decision-making tools and frameworks for integrating climate change risk evaluation and climate mitigation opportunities into investment portfolios. The project will also evaluate global government stimulus and green recovery packages in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The principal investigators on the project are Michael King, Lansdowne Chair in Finance, and Basma Majerbi, associate professor in finance.

Other News

The American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) and National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) will unveil the new CPA Evolution Model Accounting Curriculum during a launch event that will be jointly hosted with the American Accounting Association (AAA). The free online event, to be held June 15–16, will provide attendees with an overview of the Model Curriculum while addressing how accounting programs can prepare students for disciplines such as information systems and controls, business analysis and reporting, and tax compliance and planning. The Model Curriculum is a response to a new AICPA and NASBA report that highlights gaps between existing accounting curricula and topics being tested under the new CPA Exam. The goal is to “evolve the education model to incorporate the necessary skills and competencies needed by newly licensed CPAs to service their clients and protect the public interest in a technology-driven environment,” according to Daniel J. Dustin, vice president of state board relations for NASBA.