People and Places: June 2026
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 Chapman University in California has announced that Amy Zeng will be the new dean of the Argyros College of Business and Economics. Zeng comes to Chapman after serving as dean for the Sawyer School of Business at Suffolk University in Boston. As a dean who prioritized immersive learning opportunities, Zeng oversaw the creation of a neuromarketing lab and an interdisciplinary sports marketing program featuring a multiyear partnership with a National Basketball Association championship team. She previously served as dean of the Barney School of Business at the University of Hartford in Connecticut from 2018 to 2020. In addition, she is an active member of several AACSB communities, including the Responsible Management Education Affinity Group and Women Advancing Management Education, and is a volunteer on AACSB’s Initial Accreditation Committee. Zeng will begin her deanship in July, taking over from Henrik Cronqvist and interim dean Tom Turk. |
 Dan Gerlowski has been named interim dean of the Merrick School of Business at the University of Baltimore (UBalt). Gerlowski, who has been a member of the UBalt faculty since 1986, is currently an economics professor and associate dean at the business school and, during that time, briefly served as interim dean. The new appointment is effective on 1 July. Gerlowski will succeed Raju Balakrishnan, who was dean for three years and is now retiring. Balakrishnan will remain a member of the Merrick School faculty through the end of 2026. |
 Wake Forest University in North Carolina announced the appointment of Peter Rodriguez as the university’s 15th president. He joins Wake Forest after serving as dean of the Jones Graduate School of Business and the Virani Undergraduate School of Business at Rice University in Houston. Under his deanship, Rice Business has seen MBA enrollment double, grown its tenure-track faculty by more than 40 percent, and established Rice’s first online graduate degree program. Rodriguez also oversaw the naming of the Virani Undergraduate School of Business, which was previously featured in our November 2024: People and Places article. The role of interim dean will be held by Jeff Fleming, the Fayez Sarofim Vanguard Professor of Finance and director of the doctoral program. Rodriguez will begin his new role on 1 July, succeeding Susan Wente, who has served as Wake Forest’s president since 2021. |
 On 1 August, Derek Yonai becomes the next dean of the Dauch College of Business and Economics (COBE) at Ashland University in Ohio. Yonai comes to Ashland from Flagler College, where he is currently the Peter and Sue Freytag Associate Professor of Economics. During his nearly 25 years in higher education, Yonai has also served as a tenured associate professor at Emporia State University in Kansas, a research associate professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, and director of the Center for Free Enterprise at Florida Southern College. Yonai succeeds Dan Fox, who transitioned back to the faculty after serving as dean of COBE since 2023, and interim dean Lance Kaltenbaugh. |
 American University (AU) in Washington, D.C., has named Casey Evans interim dean of the Kogod School of Business, effective 1 July. Evans currently serves as associate dean for undergraduate programs and student services and will assume the role as David “Dave” Marchick transitions to serve as interim president of AU. Evans, who has held senior leadership roles at Kogod since 2019, recently led a comprehensive redesign of the business school’s undergraduate curriculum to better align with the evolving needs of students and employers, focusing on AI integration, hands-on learning, and the future of work. Current AU president Jonathan “Jon” Alger recently accepted an offer to become an America 250 Fellow, a joint appointment with the American Council on Education and the American Association of Colleges and Universities. Marchick intends to resume his deanship at Kogod once a permanent president is named. |
 Angelo State University (ASU) in San Antonio has appointed Khaled Aboulnasr as the new dean of the Norris-Vincent College of Business. He will begin his deanship on 1 August. Aboulnasr will be responsible for managing the college’s three academic departments—Accounting, Economics, and Finance; Aerospace Studies and U.S. Air Force ROTC; and Management and Marketing—and coaching curriculum and faculty development. He spent the last 20 years at Florida Gulf Coast University’s Lutgert College of Business, where he most recently served as chair of the Department of Marketing, a position he has held since 2014. Aboulnasr assumes the role upon the departure of Andrew Tiger, who accepted the position of dean of the McLane College of Business at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in Central Texas. |
 Stacie Petter has been selected as the new dean of the Robins School of Business at the University of Richmond in Virginia. She is the current acting dean of Wake Forest University’s School of Business and the Peter C. Brockway Chair of Strategic Management. Petter is also a professor of management information systems and previously spent nearly two years as the inaugural associate provost for faculty affairs. Before joining Wake Forest in 2022, she held the Ben H. Williams Professorship in Information Systems and Business Analytics at Baylor University in Texas and served on the faculty at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Petter takes up her role at Wake Forest on 1 August. She succeeds Miguel “Mickey” Quiñones, who is concluding a seven-year tenure as dean and will return to teaching after a sabbatical leave. The announcement of Quiñones’ plan to step down was previously featured in our November 2025: People and Places article. |
 Cary Caro has been named dean of the School of Business Administration at Widener University in Chester, Pennsylvania. Caro most recently was dean at La Salle University’s School of Business in Philadelphia. In that role, he oversaw the development of interdisciplinary programs, helped launch accelerated degree pathways, and expanded alumni engagement initiatives. Over his career, Caro has held multiple administrative and faculty roles at Xavier University of Louisiana, Tulane University in New Orleans, and Louisiana State University. He will start his new position on 1 July, succeeding Kenn Tacchino, who has led the school on an interim basis for the past year. |
New ProgramsThis fall, the University of Kansas (KU) School of Business will begin offering an online version of its Master of Science in Business Analytics (MSBA) program to better serve working professionals. Aimed at individuals wanting to advance or pivot their careers, the STEM-certified program blends business strategy with technical skills in a flexible online format. The online MSBA is offered in partnership with Everspring Inc., an educational design, technology, and services provider that also supports the school’s online MBA. The online MSBA curriculum will closely follow that of the in-person program. Courses will build statistical knowledge and data management skills while also preparing students to make data-driven strategic decisions and communicate insights through storytelling. The KU School of Business online MSBA requires 30 credit hours and can be completed in as little as five semesters, or about 21 months. The program includes three-credit-hour courses and is designed for students to take one class at a time in succession. The J. Mack Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University in Atlanta has announced a Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence and Business Transformation. The three-semester, 30-credit-hour program, which begins this fall, reflects the growing demand for professionals who can bridge technical capabilities and business applications as organizations integrate AI into core operations. Students will complete two embedded graduate certificates—one focused on artificial intelligence and the other on a business domain—as part of the degree, with coursework available online or in person. The Jeff and Sherry Hwang Foundation will support the launch of the new program, providing between eight and 10 students with a 5,000 USD scholarship through the Hwang AI Scholar Initiative. The University of California, Riverside (UCR) School of Business is launching an Online MBA program that will welcome new students for enrollment in the fall, winter, and spring quarters. Taught entirely online, the new program is designed to increase flexibility and expand access to graduate business education for working professionals, individuals with geographical constraints, or those balancing personal responsibilities. Students joining the program will be able to tailor their education by taking elective modules alongside the core curriculum, which mirrors the educational goals of UCR’s existing MBA programs. The graduate program can be completed in as little as 18 months or up to three years. In November, The University of Chicago Booth School of Business will offer a five-day executive education program designed for family principals and family office executives seeking to strengthen leadership, governance, strategy, and long-term decision-making. Titled the Future of Your Family Office, the program is part of Chicago Booth’s Family Office Initiative (previously featured in our November 2024: People and Places article.) The inaugural weeklong session aims to help leaders step back from daily operations, sharpen their strategic thinking, and develop a clearer multigenerational path for the families they serve. CollaborationsLast month, Nanyang Business School at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore signed a memorandum of understanding with Lembaga Management, the management consulting and executive training institute within the Faculty of Economics and Business at Universitas Indonesia in Depok. Under this partnership, both schools will explore joint initiatives in executive education, including immersion programs, study abroad opportunities, and joint customized programs for Indonesian companies, as well as other mutually beneficial activities, over a three-year period. The Leadership Development Institute at the University of California, Irvine’s Paul Merage School of Business has partnered with human resources provider Konnect to launch The Future of HR: AI Strategy and Leadership program for senior HR leaders. The eight-week executive education program blends academic frameworks with applied HR practice to help participants develop organizational fluency to lead AI transformation, strengthening both business outcomes and employee experience. Through three core competencies, the curriculum will allow participants to gain AI-powered HR capabilities that create measurable business value while maintaining human-centered workplace culture. The program will be delivered in a blended online and on-campus format, with weekly virtual sessions and an in-person closing session on the Merage School campus on 3 September. Grants and DonationsThe University of Tennessee at Knoxville (UT) has received a 130 million USD gift from Dee and Jimmy Haslam, university alumni and managing partners of the Haslam Sports Group, whose portfolio includes ownership of the Cleveland Browns NFL team and a controlling interest in the Milwaukee Bucks NBA team. The largest portion of the gift, 100 million USD, will go to the Haslam College of Business to attract distinguished faculty and further enhance its student success initiatives, graduate student scholarships, and undergraduate honors program. The remaining 30 million USD will be directed to a campuswide effort to recruit faculty across academic disciplines, supporting the university’s mission to advance research and innovation. Previous gifts from the couple have contributed to the endowment that made the Haslam College of Business UT’s first named college. London Business School (LBS) in the U.K. has received a “transformational” gift from alumni Anjuli and Raj Rao. The 20 million USD gift will establish the institution’s first endowed research fund, provide scholarship support for MBA and Master in Finance students, and create the Anjuli and Raj Rao Endowed Chair. The new chair will further encourage faculty to extend their research and impact beyond the business school. In recognition of their commitment, LBS will also rename the Plowden Building as the Anjuli and Raj Rao Building. In addition, Raj and Anjuli will join the school’s Forever Forward Campaign Leadership Board as vice chairs. Centers and FacilitiesEarlier this month, the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business in China announced the opening of its first permanent campus in Beijing. The new campus strengthens the school’s ability to connect research with practice, deepen engagement with China’s business ecosystem, and contribute to global dialogue from the nation’s capital. The school also plans to host lectures and conferences at the new Beijing campus that will invite faculty, students, alumni, and businesspeople to explore topics including AI and innovation, leadership, China’s economic outlook, and the future of global business. Last month, the University of Delaware received approval to establish the Neil Book School of Innovation and Entrepreneurship within the Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics. Launching on 1 July, the Book School aims to deepen the university’s commitment to innovation-driven education by fostering research collaboration and venture creation and expanding student access to real-world funding, mentorship, and experiences. The name honors a “landmark gift” from alumnus Neil and Sharon Book. The money will go toward the planning, startup, and launch of the Book School, as well as the building of a new physical space for the school within the university’s planned Siegfried Hall. The Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas recently named the Mandy and Bill Dillard II Hall. The name honors longtime donations from the Dillard family that support Arkansas businesses and the university. The 100,000-square-foot building will support the college’s growing student population and add approximately 1,600 new classroom seats. The consolidation will free up classroom space across campus for other departments and give everyone more flexibility in scheduling. The university plans to announce construction timelines and details in the coming months. Bill Dillard II is a former member of the Walton College Dean’s Executive Advisory Board and received an honorary Doctor of Business degree from the university in 2017. 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