Thomas Named Dean of UB School of Management

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- John M. Thomas, whose efforts have made the University at Buffalo School of Management a leader in international management education, has been named dean of the school.

A member of the UB faculty since 1968, Thomas has served as interim dean since Aug. 1. He previously served in that capacity from 1997-98.

In announcing his appointment, Provost Elizabeth D. Capaldi said: "John M. Thomas has demonstrated the ability to motivate and lead in a highly effective manner.

"He was clearly the best candidate and I look forward with great enthusiasm to working with him as we continue to build excellence in the School of Management."

A professor in the School of Management, Thomas previously served as its associate dean for international programs. In that role, he developed UB's Executive MBA program in Beijing in conjunction with Renmin University. The program recently was designated as the best program of its type in China by the Chinese Ministry of Education.

He also has been instrumental in the development and delivery of the school's Executive MBA programs in Singapore, as well as MBA programs in Latvia and Hungary.

He designed the international management option for the School of Management's full-time MBA program and has taught international business in its domestic Executive MBA program.

Within the school, he has served as faculty director for the Singapore EMBA, China EMBA and Motorola (China) EMBA programs, associate director of the Center for International Leadership and director of the International Executive Program.

A graduate of Yale University, Thomas holds a doctorate in management and organization studies from the Sloan School of Management at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as well as a degree from the UB Law School. He is an adjunct professor of law and social policy in the law school.

Thomas, who joined the UB faculty as an assistant professor of policy sciences, was director of UB's Center for Policy Studies and the university's J.D.-Ph.D. program in policy studies from 1979-86.

He has been a visiting faculty member at the Institute for Comparative and International Law at Magdelen College of Oxford University, visiting fellow at the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies at Wolfson College of Oxford University and visiting professor at the Indian Institute of Management in Calcutta. From 1967-68, he was an assistant professor of organizational psychology at MIT's Sloan School of Management.

Thomas is the co-author of three books -- "Making Regulatory Policy" (University of Pittsburgh Press 1990), "Enforcing Regulation" (Kluwer-Nijhoff 1984) and "The Management of Change and Conflict" (Penguin Books 1972) -- and has authored several book chapters and articles in academic journals and law reviews.

A former editor of the journal Law and Policy, he has served since 1988 as co-editor of the "Series on Law and Public Policy" (University of Pennsylvania Press).

Thomas has received grants from organizations including the Eurasia Foundation, U.S. Agency for International Development and National Science Foundation.

He was awarded the Medal of the Riga Technical University in Latvia in 1998 and was named an honorary member of the faculty of Budapest Technical University in 1995.

He is on the board of directors for the Buffalo Niagara World Trade Center and served as member and vice chairman of the Charter Review Commission for the City of Buffalo in 1997-98.

Thomas is a resident of Buffalo.