Donna Rapaccioli, Ph.D., dean of Fordham University’s College of Business Administration (CBA), has been named dean of the faculty of business. She will continue her role as dean of CBA and assume direct responsibility for a unified business faculty that also serves the Graduate School of Business Administration (GBA), effective July 1.
“I could not be more pleased that Donna Rapaccioli has accepted the position as dean of the business faculty,” said Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham. “As she has done with the College of Business Administration, I am confident Dr. Rapaccioli will bring to this new role an abundance of leadership, integrity and common sense.”
Rapaccioli, dean of CBA since January 2007, has been serving as co-dean of the business faculty alongside Robert Himmelberg, Ph.D, professor of history, and interim dean of the Graduate School of Business Administration. In her role as dean of business faculty, Rapaccioli will continue to promote Fordham as a premier institution for faculty excellence and enhanced scholarly research—the home of an accomplished and diverse faculty of close to 200 world-class research scholars and industry experts.
In her 21 years as a full-time member of the business faculty, Rapaccioli has served as a dynamic leader who has made outstanding academic, administrative and professional contributions to the Schools of Business Administration and the University community, said Stephen Freedman, Ph.D., senior vice president/chief academic officer at Fordham.
“During Dr. Rapaccioli’s time as dean and, more recently, as co-dean of the business faculty, she has proved to be a supremely able administrator,” Freedman said. “Her generous mentorship to faculty, her integrity and her record of achievement at CBA assure us that she is the right person to lead the faculty at Fordham’s Schools of Business Administration.”
In acknowledgment of her exceptional achievement as an educator and administrator, Rapaccioli will be appointed University Professor, Freedman added.
Rapaccioli earned her bachelor’s degree from the College of Business Administration in 1983 and her master’s degree (1986) and doctorate (1989) in accounting from the New York University Stern School of Business. She has taught in the undergraduate and graduate business programs, including the Accelerated Executive MBA, and was recognized with the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2005.
Rapaccioli was featured in a February 2009 BusinessWeek article, “Women Shattering B-Schools’ Glass Ceiling,” and has fostered an environment of scholarship and intellectual creativity at CBA. She has developed new and innovative courses, such as Global Financial Statement Analysis; launched a research seminar series; established an electronic working paper series and advocated for an increased number of faculty fellowships. She also led the development and implementation of a four-year global business honors program, new student advising programs, the undergraduate liberal arts core for CBA and the international service learning program.
A skilled fundraiser, she has worked with the development team to raise more than $11 million toward the capital campaign and has expanded the number of alumni and corporate partners. She also has reached out to create strategic alliances with the external academic, civic and business communities.
Rapaccioli’s research interests focus on earnings management and international accounting. She is the author of academic monographs and book chapters in these areas, as well as numerous articles for peer reviewed journals and practitioners. Rapaccioli also serves as an analyst adviser and lecturer for several investment banks in New York City, and she serves on the Board of the International Association of Jesuit Business Schools.
