The magazine for alumni and friends of the UB School of Management
Issue link: http://ubschoolofmanagement.uberflip.com/i/1491733
14 Buffalo Business Spring 2023 Meet Dean BY J A C Q U E L I N E M O L I K G H O S E N THE In August, Ananth Iyer was named dean of the School of Management. He was selected from a highly competitive pool of candidates after a national search. An accomplished scholar in operations and supply chain management, Iyer served previously as senior associate dean at Purdue University's Krannert School of Business. Recently, we had the opportunity to talk with Dean Iyer about his vision for the school. Q Q. WHAT ARE YOUR IMMEDIATE AND LONG-TERM PLANS FOR THE SCHOOL? Iyer: In line with UB's flagship status and goal to be a top 25 public research university, we need to invest in and focus on areas where we can be leaders and make significant contri- butions. So from my perspective, the question is, how can we enable such contributions in the field of management know- ing we have thousands of other schools out there competing in the same space? The way I see it, we have to leverage our ecosystem — our faculty, alumni, students and the rest of the university — to find a way to make it work. One thing we've already done is talk with our faculty and alumni to develop four strategic initiatives: the business of climate change; the social impact of business; business analyt- ics; and innovation, entrepreneurship and leadership. So over the long term, by inspiring conversation and collaboration across departments within the school, the university and the business community, the goal is for us to make deep, relevant contributions, impact policy and be a leader in as many of these areas as possible. The immediate goal, of course, is the resource plan that will enable these things to happen. We need to expand our ranks of tenure-track faculty, while at the same time expand- ing our footprint in the academic programs we deliver. Q. WHAT DO YOU SEE AS THE SCHOOL'S GREATEST STRENGTHS AND GREATEST OPPORTUNITIES? Iyer: There's a strong, collegial atmosphere across vari- ous departments, and people know a lot about each other and what they are working on. I also see a lot of integration of our tenure-track faculty with our clinical faculty and practitioners. This is a real asset and it's very different from much larger schools, where people just stick within their own departments. As for opportunity, I've been particularly struck by how fondly a lot of our alumni remember their experience here Photo: Tom Wolf