People and Places: September 27, 2022

Transitions

Judith Whipple has become the interim dean of the Broad College of Business at Michigan State University in East Lansing. Whipple is also the Donald J. Bowersox and Robert W. Thull Professor in Logistics and Supply Chain Management. Whipple has served as faculty director of the Master of Science in Supply Chain Management program and director of the Food Industry Management program, and she has taught in the undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral programs. Whipple was awarded the MSU Teacher-Scholar Award for excellence in teaching and research, the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals Educators Conference Teaching Innovation Award, and various best paper awards. She succeeds Sanjay Gupta, who served as dean from June 2015 to August 2022.

Marc D. Miller has joined Middle Georgia (MGA) State University in Macon as dean of the School of Business. He most recently was dean of the School of Business at Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas. Before that, he was dean of the Hull College of Business at Augusta University in Georgia, where he helped secure more than 6 million USD that led to the naming of the school after philanthropist James Hull. In his new position at MGA, Miller plans to prioritize obtaining AACSB accreditation for the school. Miller has chaired more than 20 business program reviews for AACSB, mentored schools for initial accreditation, and has been a member of the association’s initial accreditation committee.

Doug Shackelford has retired from the deanship at Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Shackelford joined the school in 1990 and was the senior associate dean for academic affairs and associate dean of the Master of Accounting program before becoming dean in 2014. He also founded the UNC Tax Center in 2001 and served as its director until 2014. Under his leadership, UNC Kenan-Flagler reached record enrollments in several programs, bolstered its online programs, and created 20 new scholarships and fellowships.

Joyce E.A. Russell, the William O’Toole dean of the Villanova School of Business (VSB) at Villanova University in Pennsylvania, will step down in May at the end of the 2022–23 academic year. After a year’s sabbatical, she will return as dean emeritus and professor of management and operations. In 2016, Russell became VSB’s first female dean, and two years later, she created the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Before joining VSB, she was a senior associate dean of the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland in College Park; she previously was a professor in management at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Russell, who has served on various committees at AACSB, recently was elected chair of the Women Administrators in Management Education Affinity Group at AACSB.

Honors and Awards

Three professors have been inducted into the PhD Project’s Hall of Fame. The PhD Project is a nonprofit organization dedicated to diversifying the ranks of business professors. Herman Aguinis (top), the Avram Tucker Distinguished Scholar and Professor of Management and the chair of the department of management at The George Washington University School of Business in Washington, D.C., received the honor in management. Two professors received the honor in marketing: Gail Ayala Taylor (middle), a clinical professor of business administration at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire; and David Wooten (bottom), associate dean for one-year master’s programs, Alfred L. Edwards Collegiate Professor, University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor, and professor of marketing at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business in Ann Arbor. All were honored at The PhD Project’s Doctoral Student and Faculty Alumni Association conferences in August. The PhD Project established the Hall of Fame in 2011 to acknowledge individuals for their outstanding work as educators and mentors to the next generation of business professionals.

New Programs

The King Talal School of Business Technology in Princess Sumaya University for Technology in Amman, Jordan, is offering two new degree programs. The MSc in Financial Technology and Accounting Analytics equips students with the skills needed to deal professionally with digital data and the tools to extract data in preparing financial plans and reports. The MSc in Supply Chain Management and Logistics Technology will cover the market need for specialized topics in the field of supply chain management, including food system sustainability, the management of supply operations in humanitarian organizations, and marine logistics services.

The Sykes College of Business's Lowth Entrepreneurship Center at the University of Tampa in Florida is introducing the Start-up Studio, a program for practicing and aspiring entrepreneurs. Participants can gain verified skills and competencies with short, flexible microcredentials that focus on the personal growth, skill development, and transformation of the founder and the company. The Start-up Studio will offer three programs: one on ideation, one on mindset, and one on validation of a startup idea.

Collaborations

The esports program at Shenandoah University in Winchester, Virginia, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with H20, an esports and tech company based in Amsterdam. Astrid Sheil, dean of the School of Business, was one of the four representatives from Shenandoah who participated in the signing. The MOU formalized the cooperation between the organizations that had begun in 2021, when six Shenandoah students and two faculty members traveled to the Netherlands to meet with esports professionals and help with an event at the H20 Esports Campus. In addition to hosting a large gaming venue, the H20 Esports Campus also houses Hogeschool van Amsterdam’s minor dedicated to esports, virtual and augmented reality, and other creative technology The new partnership will facilitate research collaborations, student and faculty exchange programs, and international experiences for learners at both institutions.

Grants and Donations

The New York University Stern School of Business has announced a 20 million USD gift from alumnus and Stern executive board member Charles C.Y. Chen to establish and endow a real estate finance institute. The Chao-Hon Chen Institute for Global Real Estate Finance is named in honor of the donor’s father. It will house new initiatives to study how the real estate industry is being shaped by three vital forces: property technology, climate change, and emerging markets. The new institute will award scholarships, host scholars and fellows-in-residence, partner with other centers at the university, and provide research grants to faculty and doctoral students.

The University of San Diego in California has received a gift from long-time supporters Ron and Alexis Fowler, whose donations to the school now total 6.5 million USD. The newest gift will endow two initiatives: the Fowler Business Concept Challenge at the Knauss School of Business, which awards scholarships to students whose entrepreneurial ideas have the potential to make a positive impact on the world; and the Fowler Global Social Innovation Challenge in the Kroc School of Peace Studies, which funds students who design social ventures that tackle humanity’s greatest challenges. Ron Fowler is chairman and CEO of Liquid Investments, a beer distributorship, and part of the group that owns the San Diego Padres baseball team.

The University of South Florida’s Muma College of Business in Tampa has received a 5.2 million USD commitment from insurance firm BRP Group to support programs in the School of Risk Management and Insurance. Effective immediately, the school will be renamed the Baldwin Risk Partners School of Risk Management and Insurance, after the Baldwin family, which owns BRP Group.  

Other News

This fall, Deloitte is collaborating with six U.S. schools to enroll students in its Future of Work Institute, which focuses on developing skills such as empathy, emotional intelligence, curiosity, logical reasoning, technological aptitude, written and verbal communication, adaptability and resiliency, and critical thinking and problem-solving. As part of the institute's microcredential program, students can complete pre-lab and post-lab assignments to work on mastering these skills. During the 2021–22 academic year, Deloitte graduated more than 250 students from its Future of Work Institute, conferring microcredentials from 10 higher education institutions.

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