Dean's senior leadership team announced

Published: 2013-02-08

Dean Christine A. Poon announced a new senior  leadership team for the college with four new appointments. Anil Makhija, director of the National Center for the Middle Market, and Karen Hopper Wruck, will both serve as senior associate dean.

Steve Mangum, currently Senior Associate Dean, will retire from the university in March 2013 and has accepted the deanship of the College of Business Administration at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville.

Rao Unnava, formerly associate dean for Undergraduate Programs, was appointed to a three year term as Associate Dean for Executive Programs.  Pat West, professor of marketing, is now serving as Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs.

Wruck will take on several responsibilities held by Mangum. In her new role, she will provide leadership for the academic programs of the college, working closely with the academic program associate deans and directors.

Makhija, formerly a department chair of finance and associate dean of executive education, will coordinate with department chairs and others to address faculty issues such as recruitment and hiring, oversight of promotion and tenure processes, annual reviews, and the handling of a variety of faculty personnel issues including compensation, research, and support. He will also provide leadership for Fisher's executive education activities and help coordinate increased interactions between Fisher's centers of excellence and our executive education units. Makhija will also continue in his role as Director of the National Center for the Middle Market.

As associate dean of Undergraduate Programs for eight years, Unnava steered the program through dramatic enrollment growth and changes. Under his leadership the program launched many new initiatives such as the Biz Quiz, the Industry Clusters Program, the Dean's Leadership Academy and an expanded set of action-based learning opportunities. Unnava has extensive teaching experience in Executive Education.

“We are fortunate to have a highly ranked EMBA program and several exciting non-credit offerings,” Unnava said. “We will continue to build on our global reputation as we upgrade our curriculum and launch executive education programs that touch upon topical problems.”

West brings extensive experience to her new associate dean for Undergraduate Programs. In addition to teaching in the program, she has served on Fisher’s Undergraduate Programs Committee and was a significant participant in that Committee's work on semester conversion as well as the work on semester conversion in her home department.

"We are very fortunate to have so many of the best and brightest students here at Fisher,” West said.
“I hope to extend the reach of leadership and engagement initiatives to enhance the lives and future careers of our students."