Three candidates are under consideration for the position of dean of the Martin J. Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University. Vice Chancellor and Provost Eric Spina is currently in the process of reviewing these candidates.

Each candidate selected by the search committee, which is chaired by Lorraine Branham, dean of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, has already visited SU’s campus. During these visits, the candidates met with Whitman students and faculty members.

Tom Lumpkin, vice chair of the search committee, said in an email that all of the candidates visited during January and February.

Branham declined to comment on the candidates’ visits.

Current dean of Whitman, Melvin Stith, will step down at the end of this academic year. The committee expects to have its new dean chosen before then, though no specific date is set.

The three candidates under consideration for the position are Urton Anderson from the University of Texas at Austin, Kenneth Kavajecz from the University of Wisconsin at Madison and Donna Rapaccioli from Fordham University.

A fourth candidate, Ken Evans from the University of Oklahoma, also visited SU’s campus and was considered for the position. But Evans, who serves as dean of the Price College of Business, said in an email that he withdrew himself from the running just more than two weeks ago.

Evans was named the “sole finalist” in the presidential search at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas, according to a March 11 Lamar University press release.

Anderson, chair of the accounting department and professor of accounting at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin, said he was impressed with SU’s campus when he came to visit and that he was glad to be able to meet with Whitman faculty and students.

Anderson said he already knew several faculty members, particularly in his field of accounting.

He said he was not concerned about the fact that the chancellor he would work under, if selected as dean, has not yet been chosen because administration changes are so common.

“It would be nice to know, but I can work with a lot of different people,” Anderson said.

He also said he was not concerned because he had a lot of confidence in the advisory board and its vision for the school.

Anderson said he would be most interested in promoting Whitman’s undergraduate program. He also said he would be interested in creating joint programs between Whitman and other colleges on SU’s campus.

Kavajecz, who is the Bill Nygren Chair in Investments in the department of finance, investments and banking, declined to comment on his consideration for the position.

Donna Rapaccioli, who serves as dean of the Gabelli School of Business at Fordham University, could not be reached for comment.

Willie Reddic, one of two student representatives on the search committee for Whitman, said in an email that students took advantage of the opportunity to meet the candidates when they visited, and that these meetings were well-attended.

“[The] candidates are strong with a solid academic background,” he said. “They are well known in the academic and business community and will serve as a great Whitman Dean.”

 

— Staff writer Annie Palmer contributed reporting to this article.

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Urton Anderson

Current Position(s):

• Chair of the accounting department and professor of accounting at the University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business

Professorship(s):

• Clark W. Thompson, Jr. Professor of accounting education at McCombs School of Business

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree from St. Olaf College
• Master’s and Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota

Experience:

• Associate dean for undergraduate programs at UT-Austin, (1997-2007)
• Academic accounting fellow, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, (2011-2012)
• Chair, Institute of Internal Auditors, (2002-2003), (2007-2010)

Donna Rapaccioli

Current position:

• Dean of Fordham University’s Gabelli School of Business and dean of the business faculty

‪Education:

• ‪Bachelor’s of science in business administration from Fordham University
• Master’s degree and Ph.D. in accounting from New York University’s Stern School of Business

‪Experience:

• ‪Served 26 years as a full-time member of Fordham’s business faculty
• ‪Sits on the Board of Trustees of Emmanuel College in Boston, the advisory board of the International Association of Jesuit Business Schools, the steering committee of Fordham’s Consortium for Social Justice and the board of advisors of the Fordham Corporate Law Center
• ‪Consults for New York City investment banks
• Serves as a director on the board of GE Asset Management Mutual Funds

Kenneth Kavajecz

Current position:

• Department chair for finance, investments and banking and professor of finance at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Wisconsin School of Business

Education:

• Bachelor’s in economics and political science, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1988
• Master’s in finance, Northwestern University, 1994
• Ph.D. in finance, Northwestern University, 1997

Professorships

• Bill Nygren Chair of Investments, UW-Madison
• Freytag/Graner Fellow at UW-Madison, (April 2004-December 2007)

Experience:

• Associate dean for full-time MBA program at UW-Madison, (July 2006-August 2011)
• Associate dean for the undergraduate program at UW-Madison, (August 2008-August 2011)
• Adjunct associate professor at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, (July 2007-present)
• Independent director, board of directors, Heartland Funds, February 2008-present.

Published on March 26, 2013 at 12:38 am

Contact Casey: cffabris@syr.edu | @caseyfabris