People and Places: December 2025
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 Lisa Hehenberger has been named the dean of Esade Business School in Barcelona, Spain. Hehenberger, who joined Esade in 2016, is currently an associate professor in the Department of Strategy and General Management. She has also held roles as director of the Esade Center for Social Impact, which she founded in 2021, and the Esade Entrepreneurship Institute. The new four-year appointment began on 1 December. Hehenberger succeeds Joan Rodon, who held the role for three years. Rodon oversaw the launch of joint academic programs and the implementation of exchange agreements with several international institutions. |
 Gurpreet S. Dhillon will be the new dean of the College of Business Administration at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO). He joins UNO after serving as the G. Brint Ryan Endowed Chair of AI and Cybersecurity at the University of North Texas in Denton. Dhillon will start his new position on 12 January, succeeding Steve Schulz, who has led the college on an interim basis for the past year. |
 Southeastern Oklahoma State University in Durant has appointed Rhonda Richards as dean of the John Massey School of Business. Richards, who served as interim dean since July, first joined the faculty at Southeastern in 2005, then accepted a deanship at another university in Oklahoma in 2014. In 2017, she returned to Southeastern, where she held multiple positions, including department chair and John Massey Endowed Chair of Accounting. She is also an alumna of the university. Richards assumes the role from David Whitlock, who is currently the acting university president. |
 Carmen Cotei has been announced as the inaugural dean of the School of Business at Queens College in New York. She will assume leadership of the school in January. The School of Business deanship was endowed by alumnus Frank Fan Yu, the founding CEO and chief investment officer of the Ally Bridge Group, a global healthcare investment management firm with offices in New York and Hong Kong. Cotei is currently the associate dean for administration and accreditation at the University of Hartford’s Barney School of Business, a leadership role she held from 2021 to 2023 and again from July 2024 to the present. During that recess, she served as interim dean at the Barney School, an announcement previously featured in our 25 July 2023 People and Places posting. |
New ProgramsHult International Business School is amping up its investment in experiential learning and human-centric skills with the introduction of three new undergraduate programs. The Bachelor in Computer Science degree focuses on leveraging data and computing power to shape organizational strategy and foster innovation, and will be offered at the Boston, Massachusetts, campus. In addition, the Bachelor’s in Psychology, Economics, and Politics (PEP), available at the London campus, adopts an interdisciplinary approach to provide students with an overview of informed decision-making and the factors shaping economies and global systems. The PEP program prepares students for roles such as public policy strategist or chief marketing officer, with graduate pathways to applied economics, journalism, and law. Hult also announced a third program, a Bachelor’s in Entrepreneurship at its Dubai campus. Students will have the option to participate in an accelerator residency, enabling them to launch a business while earning a degree, with access to robust startup support and mentorship throughout the program. All three new programs will start in September 2026. Durham University Business School has announced a partnership with Politecnico di Milano Graduate School of Management to co-create and deliver a multicampus Executive MBA program. Projected to launch in November 2026, the new offering will focus on responsible leadership, sustainable value creation, and meaningful industry impact. Executive coaching will be embedded throughout the program as a core component and will give participants access to personalized professional development support. Accepted students will also study at both campuses, in the U.K. and Italy, and will have opportunities to engage with local industry partners in both European countries through applied learning projects. Next year, the Smith School of Business at Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada, and The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) Business School will begin offering a new double-degree pathway to provide students with more insight into the experiences they might encounter in an international business career. Students in the 24-month cohort of Smith’s Master of International Business program and HKUST Business School master’s programs will split their studies between Smith’s campus in Canada and HKUST Business School’s campus in China. The new degree option is designed to help students develop a strong foundational understanding of international business while gaining knowledge in a specialized area, like accounting, business analytics, finance, or global operations. Participants will earn a degree from both institutions. The School of Business at the University of Connecticut (UConn) has launched an accelerated MBA that students can complete in one year instead of two. The new program features the same coursework, faculty, and networking opportunities as the traditional program. In the 42-credit program, students can choose from seven concentrations in business analytics, business ethics and compliance, finance, general business, management, marketing, and supply chain management. One-year students will also have the option to take courses online or in person at UConn’s Hartford or Stamford campuses and will receive priority registration during course selection periods. CollaborationsThe University of Exeter in the U.K. has partnered with the Sharjah Council for Higher Education and Scientific Research in the United Arab Emirates to equip university leaders with the knowledge and skills necessary to navigate a rapidly evolving sector. By leveraging the expertise of the University of Exeter Business School in building leadership capacity, the program aims to encourage transparent decision-making and help leaders align their operations with the institutional mission and values. The seven-unit program will include workshops and a two-week immersive experience hosted at the university’s Exeter and Cornwall campuses. Workshops cover topics like education strategy and student success, curriculum transformation, AI and educational innovation, and courageous leadership for university success. After completing the immersion experience, attendees will participate in a yearlong virtual strategic leadership residency to track their individual progress. Grants and DonationsLondon Business School (LBS) in the U.K. has received a 3 million GBP (about 4.01 million USD) commitment from alumnus John Dawson and his wife, Sam. Their gift will create the Dawson Chair in Strategy and Entrepreneurship. The new chair will help enhance faculty recruitment efforts and promote excellence in strategy and entrepreneurship at the business school. On 27 November, LBS announced the appointment of Sendil Ethiraj, a professor of strategy and entrepreneurship, as the inaugural Dawson Chair. The Dilin Duwa Centre for Indigenous Business Leadership and Melbourne Business School at the University of Melbourne have received a 20 million AUD (about 13.3 million USD) investment from BHP, an Australian multinational mining and metals company. The gift will enable Melbourne Business School to grant MBA scholarships to all successful Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander applicants for the next five years. The scholarships will cover the full cost of tuition. The donation is part of a larger initiative aimed at lowering the financial barrier and providing enhanced access to continuing education for Indigenous Australian business leaders. Part of the BHP funding will also support research efforts at the Dilin Duwa Centre. Centers and FacilitiesSaïd Business School at the University of Oxford in the U.K. has announced the creation of the Oxford-UBS Centre for Applied Artificial Intelligence. The center is an interdisciplinary partnership between Oxford Saïd, the university’s Mathematical, Physical, and Life Sciences division (which includes the computer science, engineering science, and statistics departments, among others), and UBS, an investment banking and financial services firm. The Oxford-UBS Center will support both independent research projects and joint initiatives, focusing on three key areas: AI and society, including aspects of AI governance and sustainability; AI for business and economy; and AI futures, including the exploration of emerging AI paradigms and their applications. If you have news of interest to share with the business education community, please submit press releases, relevant images, or other information to AACSB Insights via our online submission form at aacsb.edu/insights/articles/submissions/guidelines. |
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