|
UM Business School Dean Howard Frank
to Step Down in 2008
 Howard
Frank has announced that he will
step down as dean of the University of
Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of
Business at the end of the current
academic year. Frank will leave his post
June 30, 2008, to begin a sabbatical and will return to the Smith
School as professor of management
sciences in the fall of 2009.
“I look back with great pride on what
has been accomplished during my tenure
as dean,” said Frank. “Over the past
decade, thanks to incredibly dedicated
faculty, staff, alumni and friends, the
business school has been transformed and
is now recognized among the world’s
best. I look forward to continuing to
contribute to the Smith School’s growth
and prosperity in the years ahead.”
Under Frank’s leadership, the
school’s stature has risen dramatically.
One year after he arrived in 1997, the
College of Business and Management
became the Robert H. Smith School of
Business when it received a $15 million
naming gift. The school’s endowment has
grown from just $6 million in 1997 to
more than $50 million today, and annual
revenues have quadrupled to more than
$60 million.
Frank led the makeover of the
school’s curriculum and research agenda,
integrating studies in technology,
entrepreneurship and globalization with
the core business disciplines. The size
of the school’s faculty has nearly
doubled, with new hires drawn from
premier research institutions around the
world. The school has established
numerous centers for excellence and
research laboratories, and is now
recognized worldwide for its business
research. The Smith School is ranked No.
5 in the world for research by the
Financial Times.
“Dean Frank came to Maryland with
extraordinary accomplishments in
business, government and academe. He
created a technology savvy business
school to lead in entrepreneurship and
globalized business education,” said
University of Maryland President C. D.
(Dan) Mote, Jr. “Howard’s focuses on
undergraduate education and research are
both unusual and highly successful. The
remarkable and varied transformations in
the Smith School over the past decade
clearly are a credit to his leadership,”
said Mote
The Smith School’s home, Van Munching
Hall, was expanded in 2002, nearly
doubling its size. Another major
expansion is set to be completed later
this year. The school has become the
dominant supplier of part-time MBA
education in the Washington,
D.C.-Baltimore region, with 1,000
students at campuses in Washington,
D.C., Baltimore and Rockville, Md. The
school also established Executive MBA
programs in the U.S., China and Europe,
as well as Executive MS programs in the
U.S. and abroad.
"Howard’s visionary leadership has
transformed our approach to business and
entrepreneurship education,” said
Nariman Farvardin, senior vice president
for academic affairs and provost. “He
has attracted the nation’s top faculty,
developed strong academic programs
coupled with an array of
out-of-classroom experiences for our
students, and then attracted the level
of funding and technological resources
critical to truly globalizing Maryland
business. Though I will miss him as a
dean, Smith students will benefit
greatly from his return to the
classroom.”
The search for Dean Frank’s successor
will begin this fall.
|
