Faculty question CBA dean search
Economics Professor Michael Shields said the university bungled the search for a new College of Business Administration dean from the beginning.
Shields and other professors say the search is taking far too long, even though the two candidates who’ve already declined the offer weren’t qualified, he said.
“I believe that we should not have offered a position to one of these candidates, so I’m glad the search was not successful,” he said.
Meet the candidates
The other candidates for Dean of the College of Business Administration interview the next two weeks.
- D. Michael Fields, associate dean of the College of Business Administration at Missouri State University, at 4 p.m. Tuesday in the Kesseler Library.
- Donald Williams, associate dean of the Graduate School of Management at Kent State University, at 3 p.m. Wednesday in Grawn 207.
- Jack Fuller, director of the division of business administration in the College of Business and Economics at West Virginia University, at 3:15 p.m. Thursday in Pierpont Auditorium.
Provost and Executive Vice President Tom Storch asked the previous dean, John Schleede, to step down in April 2004. A committee formed to find a replacement, but the two finalists both declined offers. Daniel Vetter is currently serving as interim dean.
The search now is entering its 20th month and four prospective candidates have been scheduled for interviews, the first of which took place last Friday.
Gary Shapiro, dean of the College of Humanities, Social and Behavioral Sciences and chairperson of the CBA dean search committee, said the extensive amount of time spent thus far is legitimate and necessary.
“The search this year is right on schedule or even a bit advanced,” he said. “The hiring process for hiring academic administration positions takes a substantial amount of time.”
Management professor Mahmood Bahaee said he also is fed up with the search process.
“I feel frustrated especially since the candidates’ visitation is scheduled during the busiest weeks of the semester when faculty have many other commitments,” he said.
Some professors aren’t as irritated and are patiently waiting the process out.
“We need to find someone to steer the ship in the right direction,” said Jason Taylor, assistant economics professor. “That will take someone better than the first person that walks through the door.”
Accounting professor Terry Arndt appointed Schleede to the position and said he still is confident Schleede had what it took to be the dean. Storch never fully explained his reason for firing Schleede, saying the two disagreed on what direction to take the college.
Arndt said CMU eventually will find a CBA dean, but with a track record of such short employment, it will be difficult.
“We are developing a reputation for business deans not being around long ... that really hampers our ability to attract top quality candidates,” Arndt said.
The search committee selected search firm AT Kearney to help with the search, a job CMU’s Human Resources Department normally does.
Maxine Kent, associative vice president of human resources, said her department would not have been involved in the search.
“Because it’s an academic senior officer, it would have been above our department,” she said.
Shapiro said the members from AT Kearney were not hired to do paperwork associated with the search or to evaluate the candidates.
He said it is common for universities to use an outside search firm when they are recruiting senior level positions.
“They have the networking contacts to contact and encourage perspective candidates to apply for the position,” he said.
The search committee would not reveal how much the search has cost until a new dean is selected.
