Thomas Named Interim Dean of School of Management

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- John M. Thomas, associate dean for international programs in the University at Buffalo School of Management, has been appointed interim dean of the school, effective Aug. 1.

Thomas will succeed Jerry M. Newman, SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Department of Organization and Human Resources, who served as interim dean for the past year and who has returned to the school's faculty.

The school will continue a national search to replace Lewis Mandell, who resigned from the position in August 2001 to focus on his research into financial literacy, which is part of a national campaign to improve the

personal-finance skills of American teen-agers. Mandell continues to hold an appointment as a professor of finance and managerial economics at UB.

Thomas previously served as interim dean of the school from August 1997 -- when then-Dean Frederick W. Winter left UB to accept the deanship at the University of Pittsburgh Katz School of Business -- until the appointment of Mandell as dean in 1998.

A UB faculty member since 1968, Thomas has helped the management school become a leader in the delivery of international management-education programs. He developed the school's MBA program at Renmin University in Beijing and its Executive MBA program in Singapore, as well as MBA programs in Latvia and Hungary.

Thomas received a bachelor's degree from Yale University, a doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a law degree from UB.