People and Places: October 2024
Transitions
Ron Tuninga has returned to Wittenborg University of Applied Sciences in The Netherlands as the institution’s new rector. Tuninga recently was ӣҵ’s vice president and managing director for the EMEA region, where he served for two years. Before his appointment at ӣҵ, Tuninga served as the vice president of academic affairs at Wittenborg. When he assumes his new role, he will help lead the institution’s management team through the final phase of its ӣҵ accreditation process. Additionally, Tuninga will oversee various academic initiatives and represent the institution in discussions with other universities and schools, strategic partners, and government organizations. He takes up his new role on October 1. |
Timothy Keane has stepped down as dean of the Knauss School of Business at the University of San Diego in California. Under his deanship, the school has seen a record number of new student enrollments, expanded its annual support for faculty research, established a program to enhance diversity in faculty recruitment, and negotiated a universitywide contract for a unified data analytics platform. Keane also oversaw the 2022 opening of a 120,000-square-foot building to accommodate the business school’s growth. Richard “Rick” Joseph (pictured left), the past president of Babson Global, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Babson College, will succeed Keane as interim dean during the school’s nationwide dean search. Joseph has previously held leadership positions at Bryant University in Smithfield, Rhode Island; Hult International Business School in Cambridge, Massachusetts; and the University of Texas at Austin. |
The University of Salford has appointed Katy Mason as dean of Salford Business School in Manchester, U.K. Mason is currently a professor of markets and management at Lancaster University’s Management School. She previously served as the associate dean for research at Lancaster University. Mason also has industry experience in marketing for organizations such as Rolls-Royce and Microsoft. She takes up her role at Salford Business School in December. |
New ProgramsStarting in September 2025, Imperial College London Business School will offer a revised one-year MSc in Management at its South Kensington, London campus. The updated program will merge the existing MSc Management and MSc International Management into one MSc in Management (MiM) degree. Students will gain skills around responsible leadership, entrepreneurial problem-solving, and workplace-relevant technology, namely AI and data skills. Imperial College London also offers the option for students to extend their program to 16 months to complete longer internships or global exchange placements. The new MiM will replace the two older programs in the fall of 2025. The McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., has launched its Business of Health initiative focused on broadening the conversation around the role of business in healthcare. It aims to develop holistic leaders in health through a blend of research, engagement with the medical community, and student learning. The initiative will be led by professor of finance Sandeep Dahiya, who holds a joint appointment in the university’s School of Medicine. The Frankfurt School of Finance and Management in Germany has announced a Master in Real Estate degree program that will begin enrolling students for the fall of 2025. The multidisciplinary curriculum will cover finance and investing, project development, banking, sustainability, and artificial intelligence ethics. The two-year program, which will be taught in English, is tailored to business owners and is offered in a flexible three-day format that balances school and personal responsibilities. Vlerick Business School in Gent, Belgium, is amping up its investment in study abroad learning opportunities with the launch of two new double degree programs. Students who are already enrolled in the university’s Master in Financial Management program can apply to continue their studies at EDHEC Business School in France. Vlerick Business School and the Darla Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina in the U.S. is also teaming up to help students gain academic experience in both European and American business environments. The partnership with the University of South Carolina is open to students enrolled in any master’s degree program. EHL Hospitality Business School in Switzerland and Claremont Graduate University’s Drucker School of Management in California have designed a new Doctor of Business Administration program. The three-year hybrid program, which begins in 2025, is tailored to professionals with over a decade of experience in leadership roles, empowering participants to integrate their professional experience into their studies. The Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics at the University Delaware in Newark is now offering six certificates at the graduate level. These include two new certificates in business fundamentals and generative AI for business. Regardless of which certificates students complete, those students can choose to apply the earned credits to an MBA at Learner if admitted. All certificate courses are each worth three credits. CollaborationsThe University of Essex in the U.K. and Beaconhouse International College in Pakistan are launching a transnational education (TNE) partnership focused on delivering high-quality business, law, and technology courses to international students, without the requirement of traveling abroad. As part of the TNE partnership, Beaconhouse students will have the opportunity to study from six Essex programs at one of three campuses located in Islamabad, Faisalabad, and Lahore, Pakistan. Courses will cover business management, applied data science, and business law at the postgraduate level, or artificial intelligence, business administration, and accounting and finance at the graduate level. The Sustainability and Organizations Institute of HEC Paris has announced a partnership with the ClimateCAP initiative, a global partnership of business schools working together to provide MBA students with the skills and insights they will need to lead in climate action throughout their careers. ClimateCAP’s platform will also allow HEC Paris’ MBA faculty members to connect with other partner institutions to share best practices, develop new teaching resources, and collaborate on experiential learning opportunities. Founded in 2016 at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business in North Carolina, ClimateCAP is supported by MBA programs at more than 45 institutions. Centers and FacilitiesThe Institute for Sales Excellence at the University of Tampa in Florida was recently renamed the Southard Institute for Sales Excellence. The donation and renaming come as the institute moves into its new location in the university’s newest building, the Grand Center. Located on the first floor, the space will include offices, a conference room, and a classroom. The namesake donation honors Mike and Amy Southard, who met as University of Tampa students. Mike, an alumnus of the class of 1982, is currently the vice chair of the University of Tampa’s board of trustees, serves on the executive committee, and is chair of the audit committee. Last month, The University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business received approval for a long-term lease to establish a new location for the school in downtown Los Angeles, California. The new Michigan Ross Los Angeles campus will occupy a 20,000-square-foot space on the third level of building, in the city’s art, theater, and entertainment district. In addition to housing its Executive MBA program, the campus will serve as a hub of educational programming for executives. Construction on the Michigan Ross Los Angeles campus is expected to be completed by the end of 2025. The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University has announced plans to create a new building on its Evanston, Illinois campus. Replacing the current Allen Center, the new building will aim to create enhanced in-person and virtual learning experiences for students and faculty and provide nearly double the number of seats. It will also serve as the signature location for Kellogg’s Executive MBA and non-degree executive education programs. The facility is the centerpiece of the Full Circle Campaign, a comprehensive 600 million USD fundraising campaign aimed at re-engaging the school’s alumni. Kellogg has already reached 50 percent of its fundraising goal specifically for the new building. The New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) has launched the Center for Student Entrepreneurship, which will be led by Kathy Naasz, executive director of student entrepreneurship. The center is designed to centralize and grow the institute’s resources that expose students to the spirit and skills necessary to think in an innovative mindset. Faculty among NJIT’s six colleges, including the Martin Tuchman School of Management, will coordinate courses to build a holistic entrepreneurial experience, regardless of a student’s major. Events such as startup showcases or weekly open entrepreneurship hours, held in conjunction with the student-led Entrepreneur Society, will also provide more mentorship opportunities for undergraduate students. If you have news of interest to share with the business education community, please submit press releases, relevant images, or other information to ӣҵ Insights via our online submission form at aacsb.edu/insights/articles/submissions/guidelines. |