This year brings optimism, energy, and growth—as well as a few changes.
As you may already know, I have stepped into the role of interim dean from being LSBE’s associate dean, while former Dean Dr. Amy B. Hietapelto is UMD’s interim executive vice chancellor for Academic Affairs (EVCAA). Dr. Jannifer G. David, associate professor of Human Resource Management, is now LSBE’s interim associate dean. In addition to these leadership changes, LSBE has also been successful in recruiting new top-class faculty in the areas of finance, operations, organizational behavior, and professional sales for this academic year.
This year, we will continue to improve our curricular offerings, programs, experiential learning opportunities, and more. However, there will be some additional heavy lifting, as we’ll be drafting our next five-year strategic plan that guides us. Included in this plan will be intentionality centered on inclusivity and diversity for ALL people. We will look closely at our policies and practices, examine our School’s culture, work to eliminate barriers, and strive to be cognizant of implicit biases. Your suggestions and input for our new strategic plan are welcome! Feel free to contact my office if you would like to share your thoughts and ideas.
We learned a great deal last year about not only our abilities but also ourselves. We return to campus with a renewed commitment to seeing our community thrive as we take on the 2021-2022 academic year!
Praveen Aggarwal, Interim Dean
Labovitz School of Business and Economics
University of Minnesota Duluth