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New management dean highlights collaboration
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“I think one of the challenges for a dean is thinking beyond your own school, about what is good for the university.”
The new dean of the School of Management introduced himself the Faculty Senate Executive Committee yesterday and shared some of his goals for his school going into his first year at UB.
“I think one of the challenges for a dean is thinking beyond your own school, about what is good for the university,” said Arjang Assad, “and then trying to use those [ideas] as launching pads for possible synergies and collaborative efforts that push a number of units forward.”
The clear and ambitious vision behind UB 2020—as well as strong commitment to the plan among faculty and staff—were among the things that most attracted him to UB, added Assad, dean since Aug. 1 and formerly a professor of management science at the University of Maryland.
“The faculty and staff here have a real aspiration to go to the next level,” he noted.
Among his primary goals, Assad said he wants to boost the school’s current research output and reputation, as well as increase awareness about the work already being done by faculty.
“We need to get on the path of rebuilding our research visibility,” he said. “This ties in very well with the broader objectives of UB 2020…of making this a research university that aims for excellence.”
While uncertainties over the current budget have made it difficult to commit funds to specific projects, he also noted that he plans to begin thinking strategically about the research topics from which the School of Management could most benefit by focusing its energies. This process will not only require considering the strengths of the current faculty, he said, but future faculty as well. He pointed out that the school hired seven new faculty members this year alone, all of whom are eager to learn which research topics their school most desires to commit funds.
“A broad question that I asked myself,” Assad added, “is what the School of Management could do in the health sciences.”
Aside from a few major players, such as Johns Hopkins University, which only recently established a management school, Assad said few business schools are considering the ways in which the increasing use of advanced health care technologies are creating opportunities for new management programs and curriculums.
“The challenges of new information systems and information technology, and the general impact of technology on the health sciences—all of these seem to yell out for a management component,” he said.
Robert Keefe, associate professor in the School of Social Work, pointed out that opportunities for collaborative programs also might exist between his school and the management school.
“Nonprofit organizations are run on shoestrings,” he said. “A lot of our agencies in the whole Western New York area are really calling for social workers who have much more business acumen.”
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