The College’s Division of Business Administration (DBA) will become the School of Business as of July 1, 2007. Furthermore, it will be led by a dean, rather than a director.

That organizational change, announced in an e-mail notice from PC President Rev. Brian J. Shanley, O.P. ’80 to the College community, was approved by the College Corporation in October. In signaling its approval, the Corporation unanimously accepted the recommendation of the Board of Trustees and its Academic Affairs Committee.

Father Shanley explained in his e-mail that, since becoming president, he has carefully monitored the College’s progress toward accreditation of the business programs by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) International. The deadline for submitting PC’s accreditation plan is April 2007, he noted.

The creation of a deanship within a school of business “provides a recognizable and visible position that will attract a superior pool of applicants,” said Father Shanley. The College will conduct a national search for a dean who will have senior rank and hold a terminal degree in a business field, he said.

The president expounded on the rationale for a School of Business at the recent Fall Faculty and Staff Meeting. “Having a school will allow us to draw better students and more easily attract outside funding,” he said.

“Also, we have been grappling with governance issues regarding a ‘division’ within the College,” he added. “It proved simpler to call the business division a school because we already had one—the School of Continuing Education.”

Father Shanley thanked Dr. Francine Newth '80G, assistant professor of management and director of the DBA, for guiding PC through the first phase of the accreditation process.

Dr. Hugh F. Lena, vice president for academic affairs, said he wholeheartedly endorses the decision to conduct a national search for a dean of business to lead the school.

“It gives PC an opportunity to bring in senior leadership to guide us through our accreditation plan and develop, along with the business faculty, a strategic vision for business education deeply rooted in our mission and excellence in the liberal arts,” said Lena.