UM Business School Dean Howard Frank to Step Down in 2008

Howard Frank has announced that he will step down as dean of the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business at the end of the current academic year. Frank will leave his post June 30, 2008, to begin a sabbatical and will return to the Smith School as professor of management sciences in the fall of 2009.

I look back with great pride on what has been accomplished during my tenure as dean, said Frank. Over the past decade, thanks to incredibly dedicated faculty, staff, alumni and friends, the business school has been transformed and is now recognized among the worlds best. I look forward to continuing to contribute to the Smith Schools growth and prosperity in the years ahead.

Under Franks leadership, the schools stature has risen dramatically. One year after he arrived in 1997, the College of Business and Management became the Robert H. Smith School of Business when it received a $15 million naming gift. The schools endowment has grown from just $6 million in 1997 to more than $50 million today, and annual revenues have quadrupled to more than $60 million.

Frank led the makeover of the schools curriculum and research agenda, integrating studies in technology, entrepreneurship and globalization with the core business disciplines. The size of the schools faculty has nearly doubled, with new hires drawn from premier research institutions around the world. The school has established numerous centers for excellence and research laboratories, and is now recognized worldwide for its business research. The Smith School is ranked No. 5 in the world for research by the Financial Times.

Dean Frank came to Maryland with extraordinary accomplishments in business, government and academe. He created a technology savvy business school to lead in entrepreneurship and globalized business education, said University of Maryland President C. D. (Dan) Mote, Jr. Howards focuses on undergraduate education and research are both unusual and highly successful. The remarkable and varied transformations in the Smith School over the past decade clearly are a credit to his leadership, said Mote

The Smith Schools home, Van Munching Hall, was expanded in 2002, nearly doubling its size. Another major expansion is set to be completed later this year. The school has become the dominant supplier of part-time MBA education in the Washington, D.C.-Baltimore region, with 1,000 students at campuses in Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Rockville, Md. The school also established Executive MBA programs in the U.S., China and Europe, as well as Executive MS programs in the U.S. and abroad.

"Howards visionary leadership has transformed our approach to business and entrepreneurship education, said Nariman Farvardin, senior vice president for academic affairs and provost. He has attracted the nations top faculty, developed strong academic programs coupled with an array of out-of-classroom experiences for our students, and then attracted the level of funding and technological resources critical to truly globalizing Maryland business. Though I will miss him as a dean, Smith students will benefit greatly from his return to the classroom.

The search for Dean Franks successor will begin this fall.