In September 2014, the Gabelli School of Business and the Graduate School of Business Administration will commence a yearlong process of unification under the leadership of Donna Rapaccioli, Ph.D., current dean of the Gabelli School and dean of business faculty.
“A talented administrator and business scholar, Dr. Rapaccioli has proven herself as dean of business faculty since 2009 and dean of the undergraduate school since 2007,” said Stephen Freedman, Ph.D., provost of the University. “We expect great things for this unification headed by Dean Rapaccioli. The integrated core curriculum she designed for the Gabelli School, a blend of hands-on applied learning in business and a deep grounding in the humanities, has received national attention.”
The unification has been approved by the business faculty, Faculty Senate and the Fordham University Board of Trustees. The reorganized school of business will emphasize innovation in faculty research and teaching, and student outcomes. Academic planning for the unification included a comprehensive revision to the MBA curriculum for the first time in decades, and the creation of a Ph.D. program that will help to attract world-class faculty and promising future scholars. The unification will also allow greater academic collaboration and alumni interaction between business and other Fordham schools, adding greater depth to teaching and research.
David A. Gautschi, Ph.D., will leave his role as dean of the Graduate School of Business Administration on July 1, 2014. He will continue his service to the University with the title Dean Emeritus and will be assigned to the Joseph Keating, S.J. Chair as a tenured professor beginning in the 2014-2015 academic year, following a one-year sabbatical.
“The Graduate School of Business Administration has grown in national and international stature during the past several years,” Freedman said. “I want to thank Dr. Gautschi for laying a firm foundation for graduate business education’s continued success at Fordham.”
During the reorganization, Fordham will continue to work with a representative body of the business school community, including alumni volunteers and donors, to help generate the resources needed to elevate the school’s profile. This effort is being led by Mario J. Gabelli, GSB ’65, who in 2010 gave his name and $25 million to the undergraduate business college—the largest gift in Fordham’s history.
Over the next three years, business education will become much more visible at the Lincoln Center campus. The current Law School building will become the new Manhattan-based home of the business school, housing both the graduate business school and the new undergraduate Bachelor of Science in Global Business program, which has accepted its first class of 50 students to start in August.
“We are very pleased to have this unification begin, and in Donna Rapaccioli we have a highly capable administrator to lead us through it,” said Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham. “Having one school of business will be good for the students—graduate and undergraduate—and faculty, good for the University, and good for business education.”
