Boston: Indian-origin Stanford University
Professor Sunil Kumar has been named dean of the prestigious
Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago.
Kumar`s five-year term as dean at Chicago Booth will
begin on January 1, 2011.
The Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore alumnus is
currently Stanford Business School`s senior associate dean for
academic affairs.
"I am excited to become dean of Chicago Booth. I share
the school`s passion for the pursuit of ideas that hold up
under careful scrutiny.
"I look forward to helping strengthen and enhance
Booth`s outstanding research environment and its rigorous,
discipline-based approach to business education," Kumar said.
Kumar`s appointment comes within a month of IIT
alumnus Nitin Nohria taking over as dean of the prestigious
Harvard Business School.
Kumar, 42, succeeds Edward A Snyder, who completed
nine years as Chicago Booth`s dean on June 30.
"We are delighted that Sunil Kumar has agreed to serve
as dean. He brings the right blend of vision, entrepreneurial
energy and academic leadership that will build on the
contributions of Chicago Booth at a time of tremendous
momentum and achievement," University President Robert Zimmer
said.
At Stanford, Kumar oversees the school`s MBA programme
and also leads the faculty groups in marketing and
organisational behaviour.
He joined the Stanford faculty in 1996 after receiving
his PhD in electrical engineering from the University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
At Stanford he taught courses in operations
management, technology, critical analytical thinking and
revenue management.
His research interests include performance evaluation
and control of manufacturing systems, service operations, and
communications networks.
He co-developed a widely used factory simulator for
teaching operations management.
-PTI
