People and Places: July 25, 2023
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 James “Jim” Bullard has been named the inaugural Dr. Samuel R. Allen Dean of the Daniels School of Business at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. Bullard, who was ranked as one of the top most influential economists in the world in 2014, has spent the last 15 years as the sitting president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. He also serves as part of the Federal Open Market Committee, which guides U.S. monetary policy. Bullard was an honorary professor of economics at Washington University in St. Louis, where he also sat on the advisory council of the economics department as well as on several advisory boards. At Purdue, Bullard will also serve as special advisor to the president of the university. He will begin his new role on August 15. |
 On July 1, Sandeep Krishnamurthy became the inaugural Singelyn Family Dean of the College of Business Administration and Singelyn Graduate School of Business at California State Polytechnic University in Pomona. Krishnamurthy joins Cal Poly Pomona after more than two decades at the University of Washington (UW), where he became an assistant professor in 1996 and director of business programs in 2009. The UW Bothell School of Business was launched in 2012 with Krishnamurthy as the founding dean. During his time at UW Bothell, Krishnamurthy helped develop an interdisciplinary MBA program with the School of Pharmacy; he also oversaw the creation of the Eastside Mini-MBA, an online executive certificate program developed in partnership with the region’s largest chamber of commerce. The endowed deanship is the first at Cal Poly Pomona and is part of a recent 12.5 million USD transformative gift from alumni David and Ruth Singelyn. The gift established the new Singelyn Graduate School of Business. |
 Rangapriya (Priya) Kannan has been named dean of the Lucas College and Graduate School of Business at San Jose State University in California. She most recently was associate dean of faculty and accreditation and a professor of strategic management, innovation, and entrepreneurship at the University of San Diego (USD). Prior to serving as associate dean, Kannan was the inaugural chairperson of the i3 department that houses Innovation and Entrepreneurship, International Business, and Interdisciplinary Studies at USD’s Knauss School of Business. She was also the founding director of the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Catalyzer. In addition, Kannan is a research professor of entrepreneurship at University of Exeter Business School in the U.K. Prior to joining academia, Kannan worked in industry in both India and Silicon Valley. She joins the Lucas College on August 1. |
 Amiee Mellon has become dean of the Michael E. Stephens College of Business at the University of Montevallo in Alabama after serving as interim dean since July 2021. As interim dean, she developed and co-developed multiple new concentrations and minors and fostered experiential learning techniques in the college. Mellon joined the university in 2014 as an assistant professor of marketing; she became an associate professor in 2020 and department chair in 2019. In 2016, Mellon received the Marketing Management Association Meritorious Teaching Award. She currently serves as a reviewer for several academic journals, including Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice and Journal of Business Ethics. |
 Anil Menon has been named the George D. and Harriet W. Cornell Dean of Global Leadership at the Crummer Graduate School of Business at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida. Menon began his academic career as a member of the faculty at the Texas Tech University Graduate School of Business in Lubbock, and subsequently joined the graduate faculty at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School in Atlanta. He received the American Marketing Association’s AMA/Marketing Science Institute/H. Paul Root Award for academic research with the most significant impact on marketing practice. Menon also has industry experience, having held leadership roles at the digital health company Sharecare, Cisco Systems, the World Economic Forum, and IBM. Most recently, Menon served as senior advisor to Prince Charles on sustainable markets before the prince was crowned king of England. |
 Kathryn Birkeland has been named the Ronald G. and Kaye S. Olson Dean of the North Dakota State University College of Business in Fargo. Birkeland’s most recent position was as associate dean for the Beacom School of Business at the University of South Dakota (USD) in Vermillion. In that role, she guided curriculum change in the MBA and MAcc programs, increased curriculum coordination with other campus departments, restructured recruiting efforts, increased resources allocated to academic advising and marketing, and oversaw upticks in graduate enrollment and undergraduate retention rates. She also was an integral part of the school’s AACSB accreditation efforts and the university’s strategic plan development and implementation. Before becoming associate dean, she held positions as division chair and graduate program coordinator at USD. Prior to joining USD, she was at the University of Wisconsin–La Crosse. |
 Balaji Rajagopalan has been named dean of the Robert J. Trulaske Sr. College of Business at the University of Missouri in Columbia. Since 2016, Rajagopalan has been dean of the College of Business at Northern Illinois University in Dekalb. During his tenure, the school increased the number of undergraduate degrees it confers; saw higher numbers of Hispanic, Latino, and African American students enroll; expanded its global partnerships; and launched the De La Vega Innovation Lab and the HAVI Center for Analytics and Technology. Additionally, Rajagopalan served as director of the Northern Illinois Research Foundation. Before joining NIU, Rajagopalan held positions at Penn State Behrend in Erie, Pennsylvania; Galgotias University in Nodia, India; Oakland University School of Business in Michigan; Illinois State University in Normal; and Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia. He takes over for Chris Robert, an associate professor in the management department, who has been serving as interim dean since December 2021. |
 Replacing Balaji Rajagopalan after his departure from Northern Illinois University is Denise Schoenbachler, who came out of retirement to become interim dean on July 1. Schoenbachler has more than 30 years of experience at NIU, where she served as the college’s dean for a decade before stepping down in 2016 to return to teaching. From 2016 to 2022, she served as the Douglas and Cynthia Crocker Endowed Professor in Business. Before becoming dean, she served for four years as the chair of the marketing department. Schoenbachler will serve in the interim role until a permanent dean is hired. |
 Carmen Cotei is the new interim dean of the Barney School of Business at the University of Hartford in Connecticut. Cotei joined the Barney School in 2004 as an assistant professor of finance, and ultimately became a tenured professor. She has held several administrative roles at the school, including program director for the actuarial science minor; chair of the economics, finance, and insurance department; and, most recently, associate dean for administration and accreditation. She also has worked on developing external partnerships to increase the number of experiential projects, internships, and full-time jobs available to Barney students. Cotei takes over from Steve Mulready, who will transition to his new duties as interim president.
New ProgramsHarvard Business School Online has premiered a new asynchronous program called Credential of Leadership, Impact, and Management in Business (CLIMB). Of the seven courses in the program, four run between five and nine weeks each; they include required courses in strategy and leadership, as well as electives. Three shorter courses cover topics such as dynamic teaming, leading in a digital world, and personal branding. The program concludes with a capstone project where participants apply newly learned skills to their roles or organizations. Upon completing the program, participants receive the CLIMB credential, as well as HBS Online Certificates of Completion for the four long courses. The program, which has two starts a year, takes approximately a year to finish. CLIMB is divided into two sections to tailor the curriculum to newer or more experienced leaders. Employee management is the theme of a new open enrollment program from the Aresty Institute of Executive Education at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. The four-day on-campus program, called Leading Today’s Talent: Management Strategies for an Evolving Workforce, was created in collaboration with Wharton People Analytics. The program helps participants develop an inspirational style and vision, master operational skills, and utilize data-driven approaches for decision-making. It also covers topics such as motivating talent, managing for diversity, creating an inclusive workplace, managing the remote workforce, leading with emotional intelligence, and planning for succession. It launches in October. The School of Business at Middlesex University Dubai has launched a BSc in Business Computing for its September 2023 intake. Students in the program will gain problem-solving skills and expertise in the latest technology, preparing them for roles in management, business planning, and data analytics solution design. The university’s partnerships with companies such as Dell Technologies, IBM, SAS, and Oracle Academy will provide students with access to technologies, software, and specialized learning opportunities. CollaborationsNottingham Business School at Nottingham Trent University in the U.K. and grooming brand BarberBoss are partnering to use artificial intelligence to improve the efficiency and reliability of the company’s supply chain. Experts at the school’s Centre for Business and Industry Transformation will analyze open-source software such as ChatGPT and CoPilot that could help oversee and optimize the company’s supply chain management process. Faculty at the center expect that the project will provide a blueprint for other small and medium-sized enterprises looking to improve their supply chain management strategies. If you have news of interest to share with the business education community, please send press releases, relevant images, or other information to AACSB Insights at [email protected]. |
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