People and Places: January 2026
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 Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, has appointed Wim Van der Stede as the new dean of the Smith School of Business for a five-year term beginning 1 July. Van der Stede comes to Smith Business from the London School of Economics and Political Science, where he has served as the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants Professor of Accounting and Financial Management since 2008. His research interests include financial management and management control with a focus on strategy implementation through effective organizational design, performance measurement, and incentive systems. Until then, Lynnette Purda, a professor and RBC Fellow of Finance, will continue to act as interim dean. The announcement of Purda’s appointment was previously featured in our January 2025 People and Places posting. |
 Costello College of Business dean Ajay Vinzé has been named interim provost at George Mason University in Virginia. He takes on the interim role upon the departure of James “Jim” Antony, who has accepted the position of provost at the University of San Diego in California. Vinzé will serve alongside Antony through February to ensure a collaborative transition. But in the university’s press release, Vinzé said he “fully intends to [resume his deanship at Costello] once a permanent provost is named.” During this time, Cheryl Druehl, who has been a member of the George Mason faculty since 2008, will serve as interim dean. |
 R. Heath Keller has been announced as dean of the Arthur J. Bauernfeind College of Business at Murray State University in Kentucky. Keller became interim dean of the college in January 2025, after serving for nearly eight years as the department chair of management, marketing, and business administration. Keller follows former dean David Eaton, who transitioned back to the faculty as a professor of economics. |
 Kecia Williams Smith has been named the new dean of the Deese College of Business and Economics at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro. She has served as interim dean since last July (previously featured in our August 2025 People and Places posting) and assumed the permanent position earlier this month. Smith is the second woman to serve in the role at Deese College. She also has 25 years of experience in public accounting and audit regulation for organizations including Deloitte and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. |
 Gareth James has been selected as the next dean of the Anderson School of Management at the University of California, Los Angeles. James is currently the John H. Harland Dean of Goizueta Business School at Emory University in Atlanta, a position he has held since 2022. Under his deanship, the school has seen a significant growth in enrollment, expanded the number of full-time faculty, established several endowed chair positions, introduced three new degree programs, and added two new centers. Before joining Emory, James spent 25 years at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business, where he has held a variety of posts, including deputy dean. James will start his new position on 1 July, succeeding Margaret Shih, who has led the college on an interim basis since July. |
 ESCP Business School in Paris has appointed Marie Taillard as dean of the school’s London campus for a three-year term that began on 19 December 2025. Taillard, who joined ESCP’s permanent faculty in 2007, most recently was its L’Oréal Professor of Creativity Marketing and U.K. head of faculty. She has also held roles as the U.K. associate dean of executive education and director of the MSc in marketing and creativity, a program she founded in 2009. Kamran Razmdoost previously served as dean of ESCP London from 2021 to October 2025, when he was selected as dean of undergraduate studies at Hult International Business School’s London undergraduate campus. |
New ProgramsThe University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business has designed an Online Master of Science in Information Systems degree that will begin enrolling students for the fall of 2026. The new program incorporates an applied curriculum and dual mentorship project structure—which includes coaching from a Smith faculty member and a member of the advisory board—to enable students to develop both foundational and pragmatic skills. Students will take courses focusing on AI and data science; blockchain and fintech; cybersecurity and digital trust; cloud computing and information management; digital transformation, ecosystems, and emerging technologies; and project and program management. The STEM-designated program can be completed in as little as four semesters. The Indian Institute of Management Indore (IIM Indore) and the Adam Smith Business School at the University of Glasgow have announced the creation of a new Global Leadership Development Program for Entrepreneurs. The first-of-its-kind program is designed to develop holistic leaders with a digital-first mindset and strong business, leadership, and entrepreneurial capabilities. The nine-month program is offered in a format that blends online coursework with three immersive multiday on-campus residencies at both institutions. Upon successful completion, students will earn a joint certificate from IIM Indore with recognition of participation from the Adam Smith Business School. The Department of Entrepreneurship and Strategy and the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute at the University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business have announced that the Master of Business Creation Global option has expanded to welcome candidates from four European countries. Entrepreneurs from Belgium, France, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands can now apply and participate in the one-year program from their home countries. The international option first debuted in Africa (Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa) in 2024 and has since evolved to include Canada (Ontario). The European expansion is a partnership with Aureus Ars & Scientia, a philanthropic organization that fosters education, arts, and science. The organization’s executive director, Amélie Madinier, was appointed as the regional director of the new option. Edinburgh Business School at Heriot-Watt University in the U.K. is offering a new online program designed to increase access to higher education and help ambitious individuals develop practical, in-demand business skills to build their careers. Learners who complete the BSc Business Management will gain analytical, digital, and leadership skills that provide a strong foundation for early-career business roles. As part of the program, Edinburgh Business School will offer two admission pathways that allow students to enroll by demonstrating capability through one of two initial performance-based courses or by transferring previous academic or professional experience into program credits. After completing the degree, graduates can apply their earned credits toward postgraduate learning, providing professionals with the opportunity to stack credentials and deepen their expertise as their career evolves. Eligible postgraduate programs include the school’s flagship or specialist MBA programs or the Doctor of Business Administration degree. IPAG Business School in France has partnered with the Xavier School of Management (XLRI) in India to launch an accelerated Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) degree that participants can complete in three years. The live online sessions will allow mid- to senior-level executives to apply their research to real-world business challenges, delivering strategic solutions for their organizations. As part of their studies, learners will take part in three five-day immersion experiences at XLRI and can participate in a second optional immersive trip to IPAG’s Paris or Nice campuses. Students will earn a DBA from IPAG and a certificate from XLRI. Herbert Business School at the University of Miami is introducing a new executive education program tailored for physicians navigating organizational change or preparing for executive advancement. The six-month Global Physician Executive Business Accelerator will start in April and is structured around three core pillars: strategic leadership, healthcare finance, and technology and data innovation. To accommodate learners’ needs, the program will be taught entirely online in bimonthly 90-minute sessions. In addition, the program will provide participants with three individual executive coaching sessions and direct access to senior healthcare executives through “executives-in-dialogue” sessions. Graduates will earn a certificate from Herbert Business School. CollaborationsEmlyon Business School is collaborating with startup campus STATION F to expand its entrepreneurial tech ecosystem and connect students and alumni to the services and resources they need to grow their businesses. Emlyon will have 36 workstations at the central Paris campus and will offer an innovative program delivered by Emlyon venture labs. The program, titled “Emlyon at STATION F,” is designed for startups founded by the school’s students and alumni and for external projects aligned with its areas of expertise, with a particular focus on integrating international and women-led profiles. Selected startups will have access to events, investor networks, campus services, and a founder-recommended tool database. Emlyon joins several other institutions that occupy workshop spaces, including EDHEC, ESSEC, HEC Paris, and INSEAD.Grants and DonationsThe College of Business at Florida State University in Tallahassee was recently renamed the Herbert Wertheim College of Business. The donation and renaming come as the college moves into its new facility and celebrates its 75th anniversary as a separate academic unit. The 65 million USD gift will also create several endowed funds within the college, including two faculty chairs—the Herbert Wertheim Chair in Health Systems Operations and the Herbert Wertheim Chair in Healthcare Workforce Leadership—scholarships for undergraduate and graduate students, and a new Wertheim Business of Healthcare Initiative. The funds represent the second-largest philanthropic gift in the university’s history. Herbert Wertheim is an optometric physician and the founder and president of Brain Power Incorporated, the world’s largest manufacturer of optical tints. Monash University’s School of Business in Australia has received an undisclosed “major” gift from the Cybec Foundation that will support the university’s Master of Indigenous Business Leadership (MoIBL) program. The gift, which is dedicated entirely to scholarships, will reduce financial barriers for Indigenous Australians, making it easier for students to apply for and graduate from higher education. The donation will fund a total of 40 full-tuition contributions: 20 recipients in 2026 and the remaining 20 in 2027. MoIBL also recently signed a three-year collaboration agreement with the Australian government’s Indigenous Business Australia (IBA). The new agreement will expand the program’s long-standing partnership with IBA, which has previously supported student travel. Together, the two partnerships represent the largest financial investment by partners to MoIBL since the program’s inception in 2021. Centers and FacilitiesRiga Technical University (RTU) in Latvia has announced an intention to establish a business and management education center, with a projected opening next year in the Baltic region. The new center will merge the academic programs offered at Riga Business School and the high-tech expertise of RTU’s Faculty of Engineering Economics and Management. To support the transition, RTU has also planned to financially invest in the development of modern business education programs that will focus on leveraging the potential of emerging technologies, including AI. Academic programs that fall outside of economics and management science will be relocated to other RTU faculties. 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. |