People and Places: April 2026
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 The University of North Florida has appointed Gary Giamartino as interim dean of the Coggin College of Business. It is anticipated that he will serve in the position for about two years. Giamartino has worked as a private business consultant for the last eight years, specializing in organizations undergoing transitions, including mergers and acquisitions, leadership successions, or changes in strategic direction. Prior to establishing his consulting firm, he was dean and professor of management and leadership at the School of Business at La Salle University in Philadelphia. He also previously held deanships at the School of Business at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and the College of Business Administration at the University of Detroit Mercy. Giamartino follows Richard Buttimer Jr., who was named dean of the Belk College of Business at the University of North Carolina Charlotte in May 2024, and interim dean Chung-Ping “Albert” Loh. |
 On 20 April, Wendy Loretto became head of the Adam Smith Business School at the University of Glasgow in the U.K. For the past seven years, Loretto has been the dean and a professor of organizational behavior at the University of Edinburgh Business School. There, she also held several leadership roles, including deputy dean, director of research, and director of undergraduate programs. At the Adam Smith Business School, Loretto will succeed Eleanor Shaw, who had served as dean since 2023 and accepted a new position that marked her return to the University of Strathclyde. |
 Christina Saenger has been named the new dean of the Williamson College of Business Administration (WCBA) at Youngstown State University in Ohio. She has served as interim dean since last July and assumed the permanent position on 1 April. Saenger is also an associate professor of marketing and the director of faculty relations, and she previously spent nearly three years as associate dean. In the latter role, she helped lead the creation of the college’s 2024–29 strategic plan—which emphasizes access, career readiness, and regional impact—and several curriculum modernization efforts, including updates to the Bachelor of Science in Business Administration core curriculum and the introduction of new MBA specializations. Saenger replaces Betty Joe Licata, who had agreed to return to WCBA as interim dean after retiring in December 2021, having held the position for 26 years. Kelly Wilkinson was appointed to the role upon Licata’s departure and, in July 2024, accepted the deanship at the School of Business and Economics at Indiana University East. |
 The University of Melbourne in Australia has announced that Serge da Motta Veiga will be the new dean of the Faculty of Business and Economics (FBE) and Melbourne Business School. He will assume leadership of the school on 15 June. Da Motta Veiga comes to FBE after serving as the associate dean for faculty and research at NEOMA Business School in France. He began his career in banking and consulting before turning to academia, undertaking professorial positions at institutions in the United States and France and visiting research roles in Switzerland and the U.K. Da Motta Veiga will succeed Paul Kofman, who is stepping down after 14 years as dean. |
 Operations and information management professor and former associate dean Robert “Bob” Day has been named as the new interim dean of the School of Business at the University of Connecticut. This announcement comes as the university also shared that it would renew the search for a permanent dean. The dean position became available in early 2025 when longtime dean John Elliott stepped aside. Management professor Greg Reilly, who has filled the interim dean position for more than a year, will return to the faculty in mid-May, when the position transitions to Day. When Day assumes his new role, he will take over preparation for the AACSB accreditation visit in November and will begin implementing the university’s new budget transformation initiative. |
 Joseph Milner has been selected by the University of Toronto as the interim dean of the Rotman School of Management for a one-year term beginning 1 July. A longtime professor of operations management, Milner has served as the vice dean of MBA programs since 2020 and the academic director of the full-time MBA program from 2018 to 2020. In these roles, he played an instrumental role in the launch of two new programs, the Master in Management and one-year MBA program, which enroll their first classes this year. (The announcement of these programs was previously featured in our August 2025 People and Places posting.) This news comes after the Canadian university announced that the school’s current dean, Susan Christoffersen, would be taking on a new position as presidential advisor on innovation investments. |
New ProgramsThe College of Business at Hawai‘i Pacific University in Honolulu is introducing a new undergraduate business degree for career-oriented students who are ready to engage with their education from day one. The Bachelor of Science in Global Business (BSGB) is a 90-credit degree program designed to be completed in 12 eight-week terms, allowing students to complete the BSGB in three years. Students will develop the durable skills they need to succeed in the modern economy through a blend of applied projects, global simulations, and case challenges. In addition, students will have the opportunity to complete two semesterlong internships. Dedicated advising support is also built into the program to help students thrive in an accelerated environment, “ensuring that ‘faster’ doesn’t mean ‘alone.’” Rutgers Business School at The State University of New Jersey has redesigned its MBA in professional accounting program to respond to shifts in the global workforce and will integrate emerging technologies into the curriculum. To better accommodate learners’ needs, the business school has reduced the credit requirement from 66 to 49 and added flexible full- and part-time learning options. In addition to updating the long-standing graduate program, Rutgers has launched a full-time Master of Accountancy in accounting and analytics designed to enable students to make data-driven decisions, enhance efficiency, and improve financial reporting processes. Students can apply a maximum of 12 credit hours earned from the MBA in professional accounting toward the new degree, making them eligible to take the CPA exam in New York state. Starting in September, Fudan University School of Management in China will offer an English-taught Global MBA focused on developing a new generation of global management talent with a deep understanding of Chinese culture, strategic insights, and global governance. The two-year, 36-credit program is tailored to professionals with two to three years of work experience, empowering participants to navigate cross-border business challenges. The program is structured around four learning components—digital knowledge, immersive industry and talent connection, real-world action, and lifelong learning and career services—that will aid in participants’ academic, cultural, and professional development. The University of Mannheim in Germany is exploring ways to support high-achieving female master’s students through a new initiative at Mannheim Business School. The Mannheim Female Leadership Academy (MFLA) will provide select female students with access to Mannheim alumnae and partners from leading companies through a blend of academic lectures, skills training, (on topics including leadership, strategic networking, and personal branding), exclusive dialogue formats with women in industry, and company visits. The MFLA is aimed at the top 25 percent of female applicants for admission to the Mannheim Master in Management; Master in Finance, Accounting, and Taxation; and Master in Operations and Supply Chain Management programs. Entry into the MFLA takes place through a structured program spanning two MFLA semesters. Participants receive a permanent digital membership badge immediately upon admission to the program and a digital graduate certificate after successful completion of the two-semester program. The first cohort is scheduled to start in September 2026. Munich Business School (MBS) in Bavaria, Germany, has introduced two new executive education programs tailored for Indian professionals who want to pursue international credentials without leaving their current roles for an extended period. Both programs will be taught in a hybrid format in which students will travel to Germany to complete part of their studies. The Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Udaipur and MBS are jointly launching a one-year MBA in general management. During the program, students will participate in a six-month online postgraduate certificate from IIM Udaipur and spend the final six months on campus in Germany. In addition, MBS will partner with the Institute of Management Technology (IMT) Ghaziabad to offer a 19-month Master in Finance program. Students will complete an online postgraduate certificate from IMT Ghaziabad in the first seven months, before specializing in the final year at MBS. The Charles F. Dolan School of Business at Fairfield University in Connecticut will offer a new MS in artificial intelligence and business analytics, a redesign of a previous business analytics program. The new degree is designed to bridge the gap between technical expertise and business strategy by allowing students to gain practical hands-on experience with advanced tools and methodologies. The refreshed program now holds a STEM designation and includes new courses, such as AI Ethics and Governance, Generative AI Applications and Business, Leading with Analytics, and Data Engineering for Business Analytics. The MS program will still be offered in both in-person and online formats to provide flexibility for students in the U.S. and those pursuing their studies in Shanghai, China. CollaborationsDurham University Business School in the U.K. has partnered with cloud business management company Sage to help students develop in-demand skills and create clearer pathways into employment across the region. Bringing together academic expertise and industry insight, the collaboration will create new learning opportunities, support applied research, and develop professional training in areas such as accounting technology and analytics. As part of the partnership, Sage will work alongside Durham Edge, the university’s executive and professional education hub, to develop continuing education and professional training courses tailored for managers and senior executives. Grants and DonationsInvestment research company Morningstar, Inc., and the University of Illinois’ Gies College of Business are partnering to equip business students with the skills, tools, and judgment needed to thrive in finance. The collaboration includes an in-kind contribution from Morningstar that provides students with professional-grade access to Morningstar Direct, hands-on training with real investment data, and scholarship support for Gies Business students. With access to Morningstar Direct licenses and onboarding—valued at nearly 1 million USD per year for a five-year agreement—students will be able to analyze securities, evaluate fund performance, and apply market data using Morningstar datasets and frameworks. Morningstar also announced that it will collaborate with Illinois faculty to expand practice-based curriculum and further support experiential learning modules through the Magelli Office of Experiential Learning. Birmingham Business School at the University of Birmingham in the U.K. has received an undisclosed gift from the Richardson Brothers Foundation to fund two master’s scholarships, which will be awarded to “academically excellent” students. The new scholarships aim to provide opportunities and encourage talent development in the investment sector. Successful applicants to the Richardson Family Future Talent in Investments Scholarship will receive a “significant contribution” toward their course tuition fees and opportunities to apply for professional development experiences at the Richardson business, such as summer internship placements. The scholarship is open to students attending Birmingham’s U.K. campus, with preference given to applicants who attended school in the Black Country or the broader West Midlands region. The Center for Artificial Intelligence in Business at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business has received just over 1 million USD in federal funds to help small businesses access and adopt AI solutions. The Smith School, with support from the Maryland Small Business Development Center housed at the university, will use the money to analyze existing AI solutions, develop new programs, and provide online courses and workshops for small businesses across the state. Smith students will be involved in all phases of the initiative. The funding will also support research that can offer insight into the challenges small businesses face in the AI space and how AI can help. The Haworth College of Business at Western Michigan University (WMU) has received the largest philanthropic gift in its history: a 17 million USD gift from The Stan Lucas Trust and WMU alumnus Dan Grady, a co-trustee. This commitment allows the school to invest in its experientially focused initiatives. The money will expand access to resources for student-led startups, support the development of curricular programs focused on entrepreneurship and financial literacy, and fund additional career-readiness opportunities. Stan Lucas, who died in January 2025 at age 87, was a serial entrepreneur. Most notably, Lucas founded Lucas Automotive Engineering in 1957, making explosion whistles and steering wheels. In 1976, Lucas began acquiring industrial real estate in Southern California and later expanded into the design, construction, and management of multitenant buildings. Centers and FacilitiesThe University of Notre Dame’s Fitzgerald Institute for Real Estate (FIRE) has joined the Mendoza College of Business, giving the institute a new academic home. As part of this change, FIRE has been reclassified as a college institute (formerly a university institute) and will now report to Mendoza’s Office of the Dean. The strategic move will align the institute with Mendoza’s academic program while supporting opportunities for faculty collaboration and deeper engagement with the real estate industry. FIRE was officially established in 2016 and launched a 15-credit real estate minor in conjunction with the finance department at Mendoza three years later. The institute also contributes to graduate business education, offering real estate courses and programming for Notre Dame MBA students interested in real estate investment, development, and capital markets. Earlier this month, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), announced plans to create a new academic home for the Lee School of Business to redefine the student experience and create an accessible entry point—both figuratively and literally—for industry partners. The new 130,631-square-foot building will have four floors, each planned around distinct themes that reflect how students will learn and collaborate. The first floor, known as the Business Plaza, will include a 180-seat lecture hall, six specialized learning labs, and the Career and Professional Development Center. On the second floor, or the Learning Hub, students will find classrooms designed for active learning, with flexible layouts and technology that support both in-person and virtual instruction. The third floor, known as The Collab, will include quiet study areas, group meeting rooms, and an office for student organizations. The Executive Hub on the fourth floor will house administrative offices, the school’s executive program, and a conference center with boardrooms and meeting spaces designed for industry leaders and guest speakers. By placing the building at an intersection on the edge of campus, the university hopes to make a statement that Lee Business School is positioning itself at the center of both campus life and the region’s broader business community. The new business building is estimated to cost approximately 180 million USD. UNLV hopes to break ground in late 2027 or early 2028, with construction complete by June 2030. Other NewsIvey Business School at the University of Western Ontario in Canada has launched an AI Fellows Program, an initiative that connects the Ivey community with accomplished leaders working at the forefront of artificial intelligence and its application in organizations. The selected group of industry professionals will serve in an advisory capacity and share their real-world experience and insights to ensure that the school’s learning and thinking remain grounded in how AI is applied across industries. AI Fellows will engage with faculty, students, staff, and Ivey leadership through guest lectures, panel discussions, classroom engagement, research collaborations, and the development of new cases and teaching materials. The inaugural AI Fellows cohort includes 16 leaders from technology companies, venture capital firms, financial institutions, and consulting organizations. 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